Survey Questions Used by USDA to Assess Household Food Security (a contrived crisis)

Survey Questions Used by USDA to Assess Household Food Security [Source of alarming stats such as "Almost 25% of American adults are food insecure. Answer these:] USDA ^ | USDA https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/measurement/#survey

Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum:

The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods. Assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways...

Households that report three or more conditions [in the span of 12 months] that indicate food insecurity are classified as "food insecure.".. The questions cover a wide range of severity of food insecurity....

Survey Questions Used by USDA to Assess Household Food Security

1. "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

2. "The food that we bought just didn't last and we didn't have money to get more." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

3. "We couldn't afford to eat balanced meals." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

4. In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in the household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

5. (If yes to question 4) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

6. In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

7. In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn't eat, because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

8. In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

9. In the last 12 months did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

10. (If yes to question 9) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

(Questions 11-18 were asked only if the household included children age 0-17)

11. "We relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed our children because we were running out of money to buy food." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

12. "We couldn't feed our children a balanced meal, because we couldn't afford that." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

13. "The children were not eating enough because we just couldn't afford enough food." Was that often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months?

14. In the last 12 months, did you ever cut the size of any of the children's meals because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

15. In the last 12 months, were the children ever hungry but you just couldn't afford more food? (Yes/No)

16. In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever skip a meal because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

17. (If yes to question 16) How often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

18. In the last 12 months did any of the children ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No)

Considering the subjectivity in interpreting just what constitutes "enough money" (asked about 15 times) and "balanced meals," plus "worried;"

And given that most people exaggerate, including problems (I do not think that is an exaggeration), esp. when dealing with memory of past experiences as "wasn't enough money" (while a Study says authors exaggerate their findings in paper abstracts ,"

plus the scope of these answers on experiences being over the course of a whole year;

in addition to the exaggerated nature of a condition based upon affirming three or more negative experiences,

then "food insecurity" is a grossly misleading term, esp. as typically used, in which they also typically ignore the "wide range of severity of food insecurity" from Least severe to Most severe.

In which answering Yes or "sometimes" to questions such as,

1. Was this statement often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months? "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more," [“worry” simply does not necessarily mean that they live in need, especially as this covers 12 months]

7. In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn't eat, because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No) [Ever hungry? When + where + how long? What food? In the past year!]

8. In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn't enough money for food? (Yes/No) [Everyone losesweight between meals, + it is easy for forget cash or card + be hungry for a bit]

can be used for claims such as,

"Study finds nearly 25% of Americans are food insecure." (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-in-four-americans-food-insecure/)

And, Almost 30 million Americans didn't have enough food to eat .(https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/31/us/food-insecurity-30-million-census-survey/index.html)

Study finds nearly 25% of Americans are food insecure MoneyWatch Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults sometimes don't get enough to eat...

Experts predicted America was racing towards a "looming hunger cliff." They were right, data shows (https://www.salon.com/2023/07/05/experts-predicted-america-was-racing-towards-a-looming-hunger-cliff-they-were-right-data-shows/)

Yet,

73% of Americans are overweight or obese (42%). But via another form of "cooking" (see thread)it is inferred (CBS) that hunger is a significant problem in the US (don't you experience hunger every day? Do you sometimes not know what you are going to eat? If you can answer Yes or sometimes to 3 of the USDA questions (from which I think the below claims are usually derived) at link covering the last 12 months, then you also can be said to be "food insecure.")

Aug 30, 2019 — The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than Most European Nations

And consider the top salaries of some of the orgs which make such claims:

Sep 6, 2022 — 1 in 8 kids in the United States are living with hunger. (https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/how-many-kids-united-states-live-hunger)

The 18 most highly compensated employees [at nokidhungry.org] were reported to be:

• $489,966:  William H Shore, Founder, Executive Chairman, Director

• $487,040:  Thomas Nelson, President and CEO, Secretary

• $358,427:  Peter Kaye, Former Chief, Revenue and Marketing (until 5/2019)

• $314,035:  Charles Scofield, EVP

• . [list continued]

34 million people are food insecure in the United States. That's millions of people facing hunger. (https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america)

1 in 8 children in America worry about their next meal (https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunger-facts)

Executive Compensation at Feeding America (2021)
 137 employees [feedingamerica.org] received more than $100,000 in compensation with the 19 most highly compensated employees listed below:

• $969,325:  Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO

• $485,738:  Katherine Fitzgerald, EVP and COO

• $434,516:  Paul Henrys, Treasurer... [list continued]

• The 19 employees listed above were compensated nearly $7 million which equates to an average compensation of $370,000....

A graphic showing 783 million people who don't know where their next meal will come from (https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/hunger-and-famine-crisis)

Executive Compensation at Save the Children (2021) The 20 most highly compensated employees were reported to be:

• $583,432:  Janti Soeripto, President and CEO

• $490,272:  Mark K Shriver, SVP, US Programs

• $488,891:  Eric Howell, EVP and COO

• $457,335:  Greg Ferrante, CFO

• $404,312: Jennifer Roberti, VP, Marketing, Communications, and Fundraising

• $402,067:  Debbie Pollock-Berry, VP and Chief of HR 

• . [list continued]

The 20 most highly compensated employees received more than $7 million in compensation.

Catholic Charities, with a billion in revenues, paid their president $521,554 and their CFO $310,000, last year. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/06/11/should-non-profit-us-food-bank-executives-earn-up-to-11-million-per-year/?sh=7ba37e3dd5ba)

Should Non-Profit U.S. Food Bank Executives Earn Nearly $1 Million Per Year?

Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com reviewed Feeding America’s payroll disclosures and found Diana Aviv, CEO, made $1.1 million (2019). This amount included $347,209 from a previous employer and rolled into a new 457B plan which was distributed to her when she left the organization that year.

In the previous year, Feeding America paid Aviv compensation of $860,909.

In 2019, other executives at the organization also made a lot of money: President Matthew Knott ($561,842, up $89,224), Treasurer Paul Henrys ($412,105, up $15,162), and Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Catherine Davis ($344,166, up $17,161). Chief Supply Chain Officer William Thomas made nearly $600,000 between 2018 and 2019 before leaving the organization.

For comparison, four-star generals in the U.S. military earn $268,344 salaries and have hundreds of thousands of troops in their command. Catholic Charities, with a billion in revenues, paid their president $521,554 and their CFO $310,000, last year. — https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2020/06/11/should-non-profit-us-food-bank-executives-earn-up-to-11-million-per-year/?sh=25efebb5d5ba