Food Security

Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.
Food security includes:
The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food.
An assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Food Insecurity

The limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Hunger

The uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food.
The recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food.
The results of hunger are profound and devastating. Infants born to hungry mothers may be premature and suffer from health problems. Hungry children lack energy, get sick more often, and have difficulty learning. Hungry adults have trouble concentrating, lack ambition, and have poor self-discipline. Hungry people need food, but filling stomachs is not enough. The food must also be safe and nutritious. Indiana’s Food for the Hungry provides practical application-based food safety and nutrition instruction to volunteers and staff who handle food in not-for-profit emergency food organizations.