This latest evaluation of EEC food aid is critical of its workings. One of the main objectives, supporting balance of payments, is only a very modest success. Operation Flood excepted, dairy products, which account for two‐thirds of the programme, are highly questionable as a form of aid. Project food aid must be approached with great caution: sales of the food are preferable. This review notes, however, that it is more important to begin asking the right questions about what causes poverty than to concentrate on food aid which (apart from emergencies and refugees) is not a solution.