In 1960 Egypt was self-sufficient in almost all basic food commodities, with the exception of wheat, of which the nation had a self-sufficiency ratio of 70 %. The self-sufficiency ratio declined dramatically for most products during the 1970s and 1980s, and economists began to speak of a serious food gap in Egypt. Food security, in the sense of sufficient production and provision of food to consumers at comparatively low prices, also became a linchpin of agricultural and development policies.

The silver lining of this cloudy picture was the marked improvement in the average Egyptian diet. Daily food consumption increased from 2,307 calories per capita in the time 1961 to 1963, to 3,313 calories per capita from 1984 to 1986, and from 62.5 grams per capita of protein to 81.1 grams per capita over the same time. These averages put the Egyptian diet directly below that of developed countries. But not all portions of the population benefited to the same extent. For example, a sample survey of 6,300 urban and rural families in FY 1981 found that the daily per capita caloric intake was 1,500 for the lowest 17 % and more than 3,500 for the highest 18 %; the distribution of protein intake was even more skewed. A 1986 study done for the United Nations International Labour Organisation recommended that, to avoid further deterioration of the diet of the poor, the prices of basic staples should not be raised.