June 19, 2013
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Description
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. The USDA estimates the nearly 9 out of 10 U.S households were food secure throughout 2005. It is a measure of resilience to future disruption or unavailability of critical food supply due to various risk factors including droughts, shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, economic instability, wars, etc. Food security assessment is divided into the self-sufficiency rate and external dependency rate as this divides the largest set of risk factors. Although countries may desire a high self-sufficiency rate to avoid transport risks, this may be difficult to achieve especially for wealthy countries, generally due to higher regional production costs. Conversely, high self-sufficiency without economic means leaves countries vulnerable to production risks.
The World Health Organization defines three facets of food security: food availability, food access, and food use. Food availability is having available sufficient quantities of food on a consistent basis. Food access is having sufficient resources, both economic and physical, to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Food use is the appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation. The FAO adds a fourth facet: the stability of the first three dimensions of food security over time.
(via Freebase)
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![Syrian forces resume shelling of Aleppo amid reports of food shortages [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-9963000/9963461/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=71544971788d1b2b60bb4c1f87a7052f)
![UN urges donor support to step up food relief efforts in Mali as food crisis looms [Algerie TV, Algeria]](/images/image_cache/base-9900000/9900102/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=8cf4711fbbec3c3e5a1ce45e996d9a3c)
![UN: Congo facing 'catastrophic humanitarian crisis' [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-8463000/8463600/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=39aca027e6669456471977295019b93e)
![Morsi releases his first 100-day reform plan [Nile TV, Egypt]](/images/image_cache/base-6657000/6657242/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=5a1487215be390e0605c9cd12b2daf2a)
