Eighty-nine percent of American households
were food secure throughout the entire year in 2007, meaning that all
household members had access at all times to enough food for an active,
healthy life. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure
at least some time during the year. About one-third of food-insecure
households (4.1 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food
security—meaning that the food intake of one or more adults was reduced
and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year
because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were
essentially unchanged from those in 2005 and 2006. The typical
food-secure household spent 35 percent more on food than the typical
food-insecure household of the same size and household composition. Just
over half of all food-insecure households participated in one or more of
the three largest Federal food and
nutrition assistance programs during the month prior to the survey.
