The Measurement of Food Insecurity in High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The measurement of food insecurity is essential to monitor the prevalence, risk factors, consequences and effects of food insecurity and the interventions and policies implemented to tackle it. Yet, how best to apply it remains an unsettled issue due to the multifaceted and context-dependent nature of food insecurity. We report a scoping review of measures of food insecurity at the individual and household level in high-income countries with the final purpose of facilitating a catalogue of instruments to be used by both researchers and practitioners. The scoping review was conducted following the methodological framework of Arksey and O’Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. We included all types of documents published between 2000–2020 using instruments that estimate food insecurity at both individual and household level in high-income countries, and with respondents including adolescents, adults, and elderly. We identified a total of 23 measurement strategies being used in 33 peer-reviewed publications and 114 documents from the grey literature. Our results show that most measures focus on the access dimension of food insecurity and that further research is required to develop measures that incorporate aspects of quality of dietary intake and relevant individual, household and social conditions related to food insecurity.

Social innovation and food provisioning initiatives to reduce food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…According to FAO (2020b) , food insecurity has risen considerably around the world and more than 2 billion people do not have regular access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. In Europe, this problem has affected almost 9 % of the local population, with peaks of 10–15 % in certain regions, and includes food-poor people and those living under temporary lockdowns or similar situations ( Carrillo-Álvarez et al, 2021 ).…”

New measures to assess the “Other” three pillars of food security–availability, utilization, and stability

“…This shared measurement across studies has led to an explosion in our understanding of the health consequences of food insecurity and disparities in food insecurity rates. The HFSSM has been widely used and rigorously tested [ 20 , 27 , 28 ]. However, by design, the HFSSM focuses primarily on one pillar, access, and specifically financial access (i.e., food affordability) by asking households about the experience of skipping meals and running out of food (or worrying about running out of food) due to not having enough money [ 14 – 16 ].…”

“…However, by design, the HFSSM focuses primarily on one pillar, access, and specifically financial access (i.e., food affordability) by asking households about the experience of skipping meals and running out of food (or worrying about running out of food) due to not having enough money [ 14 – 16 ]. Further, in recent reviews of experience-based measures used globally, no existing measures assessed all four pillars of food security and most only assessed one or two pillars–predominantly the access pillar [ 14 , 28 ]. Not having standard measures to assess the full breadth of the food insecurity experience can cause under-counting, such as households who can afford food but may not have food stores (e.g., grocery, supermarkets, corner stores, etc.)…”

Food Security as Ethics and Social Responsibility: An Application of the Food Abundance Index in an Urban Setting

“…solutions to address problems of food security need to be based on robust data about the extent of the problem and its consequences. While academics and scholarly researchers have been studying these issues for nearly two decades now, the peer reviewed academic research in which these studies and data is published is often not accessed by practitioners and policymakers [ 35 ]. On the other hand, reports on research by practitioners are often published in proprietary reports that come with costs not often within the reach of traditional academic researchers [ 36 ].…”