Food Security and Social Protection in the United States

Abstract

America's vulnerable populations face increasing levels of food insecurity, hunger and poverty as social protection programs are attacked and delegitimized. This paper examines the changes in social protection policy as a whole but focuses on the extreme case of food security. We first look at the interrelated concepts and definitions of food security, hunger and poverty. Next, we describe governmental programs addressing food security issues. We end with a discussion of food security and social protection, and the state of vulnerability among low-income persons currently and in the near future.

Keywords:

• food security
• hunger
• poverty
• social protection
• Food Stamps
• SNAP
• WIC