Food Insecurity and Hunger in the United States An Assessment of the Measure

The Panel to Review the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Measure ment of Food Insecurity and Hunger acknowledges with appreciation the contributions of the many persons who gave generously of their time and knowledge to this study. Support for the study was provided by the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We particularly wish to thank Mark Prell, chief, Food Assistance Branch, who served as project officer of the study. He and his colleagues, particularly Mark Nord and Margaret Andrews, were helpful in providing information about the research undertaken in the development and implementation of the measures of food insecurity and hunger and answering the many questions from the panel and staff. We acknowledge Susan Offutt, administrator, and Phil Fulton, former associate administrator of ERS; Steven Carlson, director, family programs staff, Office of Analysis, Nutrition, and Evaluation, Food and Nutrition Service; Betsey Kuhn, director of the Food Economics Division (FED), ERS; and David Smallwood, deputy director for food assistance and nutrition research, FED, for recognizing the need and initiating and supporting this important study