OK, but the definition of "food insecurity" used at that first link includes, at the "low food security level" people whose "quantity of food intake and normal eating patterns were not substantially disturbed".
I don't think you're doing any favors to the cause of food security by suggesting that people starving in America is a big issue, or implying that anything like 1 in 9 people are in that situation.
I think the honest answer to the question "is there anyone starving to death in America?" is "virtually no-one". I'm sure there are cases of parental mistreatment where children have been starved to death but they're not from economic causes.
The broader question of "are there people whose health or development is affected because they cannot afford to eat healthily" is different, and important, but let's not pretend people are dying of starvation because primarily because they can't afford to eat.
It's hard to say if people would be starving without food assistance. Hopefully we won't experiment to find out. But just looking at the number of students who get free lunches in the US based upon their income levels is astounding. According to [0], the two main programs feed 32 MILLION free meals a day.
The eligibility requirements for a free meal are <130% of the poverty level for the household. That's a household income (for a family of three) of $27500.
'"The word "hunger," the panel stated in its final report, "...should refer to a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation."'
"One in seven households with children were affected by food insecurity in 2018."
"Food insecurity rates are highest for single mother households and households with incomes below poverty line"
"In 2018, 88.9 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the year. The remaining 11.1 percent of households were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 4.3 percent (5.6 million households) that had very low food security."
My point is that hunger is bad enough and I don’t think splitting hairs between whether the richest country on the face of the earth has starvation or merely hunger is constructive, if we believe that either is unacceptable because of the human pain and suffering and damage they cause. We know hunger exists in America, and that it doesn’t have to.
I don't think you're doing any favors to the cause of food security by suggesting that people starving in America is a big issue, or implying that anything like 1 in 9 people are in that situation.
I think the honest answer to the question "is there anyone starving to death in America?" is "virtually no-one". I'm sure there are cases of parental mistreatment where children have been starved to death but they're not from economic causes.
The broader question of "are there people whose health or development is affected because they cannot afford to eat healthily" is different, and important, but let's not pretend people are dying of starvation because primarily because they can't afford to eat.