1974: World Food Conference
The Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition was adopted by the first World Food Conference convened by the General Assembly of the United Nations to develop “ways and means whereby the international community, as a whole, could take specific action to resolve the world food problem within the broader context of development and international economic co-operation”. The term “Food Security” was introduced and defined in supply terms.

1996: World Food Summit
The World Food Summit emphasised demand and access issues as well as supply, stating that food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.

2002: World Food Summit
The World Food Summit: five years later called for “an international alliance to accelerate action to reduce world hunger”. It was attended by delegations from 179 countries and the European Commission, and offered a forum for all ‘stakeholders’ in the fight against hunger — government officials; farming, forestry and fishing communities; NGOs; the young; and indigenous groups. See Right to Food Guidelines.

2009: World Summit on Food Security
The World Summit on Food Security identified four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. See Declaration.

2012: FAO et al published The State of Food Insecurity in the World. This edition described improvements made by the FAO to the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) indicator that is used to measure rates of food insecurity: revised minimum dietary energy requirements for individual countries, updates to the world population data, and estimates of food losses in retail distribution for each country.