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Food Stamp Participants Food Security
and Nutrient Availability
SUMMARY
A major objective of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) is to ensure the
availability of adequate nutritious food to low-income households. The
National Food Stamp Program Survey conducted in 1996 collected information
on customer service, access to authorized food retailers, and food
security and nutrient availability from the first nationally
representative sample of Food Stamp Program participants and potential
participants. A primary objective of the survey was to examine the
adequacy of the foods available to FSP participants and their risk of
hunger. The study also examined the amount of nutrients FSP households
used from home food supplies, their dietary knowledge, the determinants of
food security, households’ perceived reasons for food insecurity, coping
strategies used to deal with food security problems, and the degree to
which food security and food availability are correlated.
Nutrient
Availability
Nutrient availability for the household is calculated from a seven-day
record of food used from the home food supply. This includes food used
within the home, as well as foods prepared in the home but then taken
elsewhere for consumption. Both purchased food and food obtained at no
cost, such as home-grown produce, are included. Food use does not include
foods bought and eaten outside the home but does include foods that were
in the home food supplies but were then wasted or spoiled and not eaten.
The average levels of nutrients available to respondents, based on a
seven-day food use survey, exceed Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs)
for all of the key nutrients examined. Nutrient availability as a percent
of RDA ranged from 114 for calcium to 262 for Vitamin C.
However, behind the averages, substantial percentages of respondents fail
to meet their RDAs. For instance, only 69 percent of food stamp households
met the RDA for iron and only 79 percent met the RDA for folate.
Food Security
Food security is assured access at all times to enough food for an active,
healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum: (1) the ready
availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) the assured
ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways (e.g.,
without resorting to emergency food sources, scavenging, stealing, or
other severe coping strategies). These manifestations of poverty-related
food insecurity are believed to have deleterious health and behavioral
impacts.
Nationally, fifty percent of FSP participants experience some level of
food insecurity. Twenty-eight percent were classified as food insecure
without hunger, 17% as food insecure with moderate hunger and 5 percent as
food insecure with severe hunger. Virtually all respondents experiencing
food insecurity indicated that the main reason for their food insecurity
was lack of financial resources. FSP participants are more likely to
experience food insecurity than eligible nonparticipants.
July 1999
Last modified: 12/04/2008
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