Household food security exists when all the people living in the household have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (World Food Summit Declaration, 1996).

This definition is based on three core concepts of food security:

• Availability (physical supply of food)
• Access (the ability to acquire food)
• Utilisation (the capacity to transform food into the desired nutritional outcome).

If these conditions are not fulfilled then the household is said to be in the state of food insecurity.