Current issue

Volume 1, issue 3 (2023): Special issue on Food Acquisition Research and Methods

Editors: Elina T. Page, Christopher Antoun, Jeffrey Gonzalez, Linda Kantor, Florian Keusch, Lauren Miller & Alexander Wenz


High-quality food data collected from consumption and expenditure surveys are essential for researchers and policy makers to better understand trends in social, economic, and human development. Over the last decade, food surveys have faced challenges to sustain high data quality, including declining response rates and increasing respondent burden. At the same time, new opportunities around the use of new technologies and alternative data sources have emerged. This special issue presents recent methodological advancements in the collection of food survey data that contribute to research about increasing and sustaining data quality in such surveys.




Editorial: Recent Advances in Survey Methods for Collecting Food DataSpecial issue

Elina T. Page, USDA Economic Research Service, USA
Christopher Antoun, University of Maryland, USA
Jeffrey Gonzalez, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, USA
Linda Kantor, USDA Economic Research Service, USA
Florian Keusch, University of Mannheim, Germany
Lauren Miller, USDA Economic Research Service, USA
Alexander Wenz, University of Mannheim, Germany


Exploring Optical Character Recognition (OCR) as a Method of Capturing Data from Food-Purchase ReceiptsSpecial issue

Adam Kaderabek, University of Michigan, USA


This paper explores capturing expenditure data from food-purchase receipts using optical character recognition (OCR). Point-of-sale receipts provide means to assess the accuracy of self-reported expenditures by providing a comprehensive record of the number of items purchased and their prices. However, comprehensively coding receipts can be cost prohibitive, particularly for large-scale surveys. The burden of capturing [...]


expenditure data, measurement error, optical character recognition, receipt data, under-reporting,

Review of Food Diaries Used to Collect Food Acquisition DataSpecial issue

Ting Yan, Westat, Maryland, USA
Janice Machado, Westat, Maryland, USA


Food data are important for policymakers and researchers to understand food acquisition and expenditure, nutrition, food environments, food assistance, and so on. However, the collection of food data by asking people to recall their food acquisition is challenging for respondents sampled from a general population due to faulty memory, the burden associated with responding in [...]


app diary, coverage, measurement, Nonresponse, paper diary, post-survey processing, web diary,

Secondary Activities: Their Proximity to Primary Activities and Their Importance for Understanding Reports of Preparing and Consuming MealsSpecial issue

Robert G. Rinderknecht, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
Long Doan, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, USA
Liana C. Sayer, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, USA


Time spent preparing and consuming meals is tracked closely by the USDA, and a growing literature shows how such time use relates to health and other important outcomes. Research has yet to consider the importance of assessing the relative sequencing of such production and consumption, potentially leading to inaccurate interpretations. We investigate this possibility and [...]


data quality, meal preparation and consumption, secondary activities, time diaries, Web surveys,

Usability of Augmented-Reality Portion Estimators During 24-hour Dietary Recall InterviewsSpecial issue

Laura DiGrande, RTI International, USA
Shawn Karns, RTI International, USA
Elizabeth Kinyara, RTI International, USA
Sue Pedrazzani, RTI International, USA


Dietary recall instruments are structured interviews that capture information on foods and beverages consumed by participants in the past 24 hours. These instruments often rely on tools to help estimate portion size such as three-dimensional food models or two-dimensional images in a booklet or on a computer screen. Two-dimensional tools are good alternatives to bulky [...]


augmented reality, Automated Multiple-Pass Method, dietary recall, dietary surveys, food consumption, food models, portion size measurement,

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