This report responds to PL 105-379, which mandated the USDA  examine options for the design, development, implementation and operation of a national database to track participation in federal means-tested public assistance programs.

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.

One of the main objectives of the survey was to examine the food security of FSP participants, in terms of the adequacy of the food available to them and their risk of hunger. The study also examined the amount of nutrients FSP participants used from home food supplies.

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.