The international organisation of food security is in disarray. How has this happened? New research on food aid by the Overseas Development Institute, ODI, makes clear the seriousness of the issue. Tackling hunger is crucial to the international targets for reducing poverty. The report shows that the poorest 1.5 billion people in the world live on less than $US1 a day and typically spend 80 percent of their income on food. The study suggests that the chaos arises from a loss of confidence in all forms of food aid except for emergency relief. Furthermore, although there are many ways in which donors can help overcome hunger apart from food aid, internationally negotiated commitments on food security are not adapted to include these. Institutional arrangements exacerbate the problem, notably regarding the role of the World Food Programme (WFP), the USA and the EU.