Hunger and food insecurity

Using the federal government’s estimates of food insecurity, Feeding America, the umbrella organization for U.S. food banks, describes such statistics as symptoms of widespread hunger: “In many ways, America is the land of plenty. But for one in six Americans, hunger is a reality … Right now, millions of Americans are struggling with hunger” (Feeding America, 2011). Using similar numerical estimates, the Heritage Foundation finds little evidence of hunger: Political advocates proclaim that the USDA reports show there is widespread chronic hunger in the U.S. But the USDA clearly and specifically does not identify food insecurity with the more intense condition of “hunger”… As the USDA report explicitly states, most “food insecure” homes did not cut back their intake at all.