This paper reviews some of the existing food security indicators, discussing the validity of the underlying concept and the expected reliability of measures under reasonably feasible conditions. The main objective of the paper is to raise awareness on existing trade‐offs between different qualities of possible food security measurement tools that must be taken into account when such tools are proposed for practical application, especially for use within an international monitoring framework. The hope is to provide a timely, useful contribution to the process leading to the definition of a food security goal and the associated monitoring framework within the post‐2015 Development Agenda.