According the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), food insecurity “is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food”.1 Recent data indicate that approximately 12.3% or 15.6 million households in the United States (U.S.) were food insecure at least some time during the last year.1 The adverse social, physical, and psychological outcomes associated with food insecurity are well documented, particularly in households with children including higher rates of diabetes and hypertension, self-reported fair or poor health, maternal depression, behavioral problems/developmental delays in early life, and poor academic achievement.2–8 These outcomes are not only detrimental to the health and well-being of individual children and families but also negatively impact broader society. Based on a combination of lower worker productivity, higher costs of public education, greater health care costs, and the cost associated with emergency food distribution, the economic burden associated with food insecurity has been estimated to be over $167.5 billion annually. (author abstract)
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