Food Insecurity Research in Crisis

Session Submission Type: Late-Breaking Roundtable

Abstract

On September 20th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that they will not collect food insecurity data for 2025. The timing could not be worse. Just as cuts to the main food assistance program—Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP—are set to go into effect as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump in July, we will lose our key data resource to monitor and evaluate the food security status of all Americans.

The USDA has annually collected information on the food security status of households since 1995 as a supplement to the monthly Current Population Survey, the source of our official unemployment statistics]. Based on the survey responses, households are categorized as being either food secure or food insecure, where food insecurity means that at some point in the prior year the household was unable to provide adequate and nutritious food for some or all the members of the household due to lack of financial resources. A more severe category is very low food security where normal eating patterns have been disrupted and food intake reduced. It is not intended to capture the physiological condition of hunger, nor periodic fasting or dieting for noneconomic reasons, but rather the socioeconomic condition of limited or uncertain availability of nutritious and safe foods. The measure has been rigorously tested and validated, and has subsequently been added to several other (more narrowly targeted) federal and non-federal surveys.

Monitoring the nation’s food security status is important in its own right and also because food insecurity is associated with a variety of negative health outcomes. This includes increased risks of some birth defects, anemia, cognitive problems, and aggression and anxiety among children, and decreased nutrient intakes, increased rates of mental health problems and depression, diabetes, and poor cardiovascular health among adults. As such, it adds tens of billions of dollars in additional health care expenditures in the U.S., and thus in recent years many health care settings, including the Veteran’s Administration, screen for food insecurity during patient in-take.

While poverty is certainly a key risk factor for food insecurity, it is by no means the sole determinant. Fewer than half of households living in poverty also report being food insecure, and indeed there are more persons residing in food insecure households with incomes above the poverty line than below. Food insecurity among children has been linked to factors such as maternal mental health, and among seniors to factors such as disability status. Thus, measuring poverty alone is not sufficient for understanding the causes and consequences of food insecurity.

By not collecting the data, we will lack a systematic understanding of the size and distribution of food insecurity in 2025 and efforts to address the need will be less effective. 

Potential speakers include Colleen Heflin, Jim Ziliak, Hilary Hoynes, and Shelly Ver Ploeg.

Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Methods and Tools of Analysis

Moderator

• Colleen M Heflin, Syracuse University

Organizer

• Colleen M Heflin, Syracuse University

Speakers

• James P. Ziliak, University of Kentucky

• Hilary W Hoynes, University of California, Berkeley

• Michele Ver Ploeg, George Washington University