Food insecurity is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as lacking access to healthy, wholesome foods needed to sustain a healthy and active lifestyle. The USDA indicates that 14.5 percent of US households were considered food insecure in 2012.
A similar trend has been seen in the Bay State, with 11.9 percent of Massachusetts households identified in 2012 as food insecure.
The number of food insecure households has either increased or remained steady since the USDA began recording data in the early 1990s.
