The article examines the current problems and features of the political and legal provision of food security in Russia. The growing factors of global instability have been studied everywhere. The systemic possibilities for the development of modern legal mechanisms, sustainable development of the state and protection of national interests in the food sector are investigated. It is noted that the availability of own food resources, in sufficient volume, increases the parameters of the balance of forces and means in the global economic restructuring. It is revealed that the unresolved problems of the agro-industrial complex contribute to the development of negative factors in other areas of the national economy, generating the effect of quantitative multiplication. It has been revealed that countries with a developed agricultural sector capable of meeting the domestic needs of the population for food and agricultural raw materials have stable positions. It is shown that the food sector in a certain period remained without due attention of the state, which contributed to the loss of the security threshold. Recognizing the priority of Russia's internal self-sufficiency, it seems necessary to single out the system of “food security” into a separate full-fledged category of national security. The full implementation of the intra-system capabilities of the agricultural sector will allow us to build modern legal mechanisms for the protection of national interests in the food sector, among which the main link is the adoption of the Federal Law “On Food Security”.