Table 1.

Defining food security

Source	Food security	Food insecurity	Hunger
United States Department of Agriculture (2006)13	High food security: no reported indications of food-access problems or limitations.	Low food security: reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.	Refers to a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation.
	Marginal food security: one or two reported indications—typically of anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake.	Very low food security: reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.
World Food Summit (1996)51	Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.	At times during the year, these households were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food.
Anderson (1990)52		Whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food or the ability to acquire acceptable good in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain.