Food Insecurity Essay

Food insecurity is defined as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.”1 Food insecurity data found that in America, 12.7% of households were food insecure at some point and 5% of households had very low food security in 2015.2 The prevalence of food insecurity in Ohio was greater than the national average in 2015, with 16.1% of households reporting food insecurity.2

Food insecurity can the idea of not knowing whether food will be available at the time, it can also be defined as deciding how the low income will be distributed from utilities to nourishment. Taking this into perspective, close to 88 percent of the American population does not have to worry about food insecurity, yet this issue affects 12 percent of Americans having to choose between keeping their families warm versus full. Although the term fed and full are used much differently when viewing a family with a low income. In most scenarios, low income families must reside in the low income neighborhoods, where they can obtain the basic of shelter. Still these neighborhoods lack the steady availability of nutritious foods. This issue arises for two reasons, affordability and lack of income. The lack of means to pay for these groceries holds to be the focal reason why grocers cannot be made readily obtainable for these areas let alone those with money variability (Berg 120). Aside from the lack of

Food insecurity is a determent to health that has become more prevalent in low-income areas of the country. Food security is an important aspect of public health in which greater evidence is showing that food insecurity as a direct link to poor health. Food insecurity can be define as “the inability to acquire or consume and adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of

Food Insecurity is defined as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, and at a minimum includes the following: the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods and the assured ability to acquire personally acceptable foods in a socially acceptable way, qualified by their involuntariness and periodicity. Even though food insecurity affects everyone in the household, it may also affect them differently. Food insecurity mostly exists whenever food security is limited. Uncertain or limited availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods results chronic diseases psychological, and suicidal syndrome (Cook & Frank, 2008)

Food insecurity is a term that was introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA labels the insecurity based on the severity with four different groups. One group is the Low Food Security; which means low quality, desirability or variety but no or little reduction of food. Very Low Food Security is reduced food intake and multiple disruptions of eating patterns. The opposite spectrum is High Food Security. This is no food limitations or no issues accessing food. Marginal food security is sufficient supply of food with some concern of ability to supply. (USDA, https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.aspx).

To many, Northeastern’s dining halls rank fairly well in comparison with other schools. Although there have been many complaints that the menu is rarely changed, Northeastern does tend to offer a varied selection of food. In a recent survey, students were asked to rate Northeastern’s dining halls on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best. About 36 percent surveyed ranked the food a “3” and about 57 percent ranked it a “4.” In general, Northeastern students think decent things about the dining halls. Some of the complaints however, included that there are a lot of fried and fattening foods, repetitive menus, and that vegetarian food is not always readily available; you sometimes have to wait for it to be cooked for you (e.g., veggie burgers).

Food insecurity is defined as when an individual has inconsistent and inadequate access to a sufficient amount of nutritious food preventing him or her from maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is typically associated with limited financial  It is sometimes classified as a public health concern and is currently a growing issue as the number of individuals suffering from food insecurity is increasing according to Statistics Canada.   Food insecurity has its greatest impact on the individual itself and an impact on the Government of Ontario and mayors of the cities within Ontario.  It is an important issue as it can more issues to branch out from it  such as famine (long term hunger), increased health care costs and more. Thus, food insecurity has many impacts on the person itself and it can cause more issues to build upon this one issue.

By definition, a person who food insecure is someone who lacks reliable access to a sufficient quantity of nutritious food to sustain a healthy lifestyle. In the District of Columbia an estimated 12% of the population is “food insecure” and 14% struggle with hunger.

In 2013 almost 86% of households in america were food secure. This means that 14.3% of households in America were food insecure (meaning they were not able to provide food for themselves). 5.6% out of this 14.3% had extremely low food security. This means that these households had no money or resources available to acquire food. Although this amount of people being food insecure may seem high it has been slowly declining. In 2011, the amount of households that were food insecure was 14.9%. This decrease might seem very small, but in reality it means that thousands of households are now food secure.

Did you know in 2014, 48.1 million households in the United States were food insecure? (Feeding America, 2016) Additionally, household with children reported higher rates of food insecurity compared to households without children. According to new research, a great proportion of college students are suffering from food insecurity (Hughes et al., 2011; Patton-Lopez et al., 2014). According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is defined by “the state of being without reliable access to sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food” (2015). Since 2006, the USDA introduced new terms to categorize food insecurity ranges. Marginal food security is described as “anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. Little or no change in diet” (Gaines et al., n.d.). Low food security “reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet without reduced food intake. Very low food security “disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.”

In previous years Grand Canyon University has offered a wide variety of food options. Up until last year, 2015, there was a cafeteria style food option that offered students the opportunity to pay one flat rate to gain entrance into the cafeteria that offered a variety of different food choices. There was a healthy salad bar, an Italian kitchen, a Mongolian grill, and an American style cafe. All of these foods were home cooked and were cooked using minimal GMO’s and were overall a healthy choice. Grand Canyon found that students were swiping into the “union” at the one flat rate and staying for the majority of the day. This was costing GCU a lot of money because students were consuming a large amount of food for one low price. This year GCU made a large

Many college students are at risk for hunger. Low-income students do not prioritize eating because of their other financial responsibilities, including rent, textbooks, and transportation. Students who tend to buy their own food, do not buy the most nutritious meals which includes the infamous ramen for lunch or dinner. Two articles that discuss students experiencing food insecurity are “Students Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Books and Food” by Clare Cady explains how low-income students cannot afford the food provided on campus because of other responsibilities which tend to relate to school whether its textbooks or transportation to get to class. The other article, “Student Food Insecurity: The Skeleton in the University Closet” by

Food insecurity is a term that indicates the limited capability to afford nutritionally adequate and safe food or the limited ability to obtain adequate foods in socially acceptable ways (1-2). In 2015, 13% of all U.S. households, which represents 42.2 million people (including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children), were food insecure (3) and food insecurity was found to be present in every county in the United States, ranging from a low of 4% in Loudoun County, VA to a high of 38% in Jefferson County, MS (4).

Nutrition is important for healthy life. Many people are still hungry around the world even though there is mass production of food. This is because of unhealthy food production. In today’s world we see many obese people because of high intake of high fat and cholesterol containing food. It is important to have a healthy diet/ nutritional intake for individuals to have good foundation for physical and mental health. Now a day’s healthy food is getting more expensive rather than unhealthy food. Poor people are forced to eat unhealthy food, while the rich can afford to eat whatever the please. Food insecurity is caused by individuals not having healthy food for their families due to their low income or political and

Food insecurity can be defined as the inability to acquire an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so. One in six Americans are food insecure. There are five components of food security, including quantity, quality, suitability, psychological, and social factors. Food insecurity can occur for a variety of reasons, the main one being poverty. Decreasing the amount of food wasted has the ability to feed millions of these Americans.