This report fulfills the request from Congress in the House Appropriations Committee Report (HR 107-116), which accompanied the Agriculture Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2002.

This is the final report for the project, "Analysis of the Current Population Survey Data for Food Security and Hunger Measurement" conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. 

This new edition of the guide documents minor corrections and changes, bringing the procedures described in the original publication up to date.

This report fulfills a Congressional request for the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to report on "a comprehensive, integrated approach to nutrition education as a complement to the various nutrition assistance programs." FNS reviewed its current nutrition education efforts, and consulted with a wide range of nutrition education experts and stakeholders.

In the past, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has relied on a series of large surveys to gather and compare information on food expenditures and food consumption among participants and non-participants to better understand the impacts of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) on the diet and nutritional status of program participants. Studies based on survey data, however, have a number of drawbacks, including the time and expense of collecting the survey data, sampling error, response bias, errors in respondent recall, and misinformation about what may have been purchased or consumed.

The advance report of preliminary findings for the period 1995-1998 introduces the second installment in the annual series, Measuring Food Security in the United States.

This survey is the cornerstone of the food security measurement project begun in 1992 to carry out a key task assigned by the Ten-Year Comprehensive Plan for the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Program.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program is a federal program that provides meals and snacks in child and adult day care facilities. The child care component of the CACFP provides federal funds for meals and snacks served to children in nonresidential day care facilities. These include family and group day care homes (homes), Head Start centers, and some child care centers.

The Conference on Access to Food, held in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18 and 19, 1995, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Consumer Service. The conference was held to bring together food access experts to share their knowledge and help USDA build an agenda to increase access to food for low-income Americans.