Chapter 2


the household, rather than individual level. Individual dietary surveys will be discussed in
the next section.

There are four main types of data collection procedure used for household consumption
surveys.

* the inventory method involves measuring household stocks at the beginning and end of
 the survey period, plus recording all the foods brought into the household during this
 period whether purchases, gifts or from home production. The usual period of time
 covered is between three and seven days.

* the recall procedure is used when the interviewer uses a list of major food items in a
 structured questionnaire, to help the respondent recall the amounts and prices of all foods
 used in the household, again usually over three to seven days.

* the food accounts method is mostly used in industrialized countries, where households do
 not generally keep large stores of food. The homemaker keeps records of the amount of
 foods purchased during the period of the survey. This is most likely to be satisfactory
 where there is limited use of freezers and shopping occurs three or four times a week.

* weighed records of the foods consumed in the house each day may be appropriate for
 small-scale surveys. It requires the investigator to visit the home on a daily basis, and is
 recommended by FAO particularly in rural areas where food is simple, home production
 is important and measures are not standardised.

All of these methods have advantages and disadvantages. The inventory method and the food
accounts method require a family where at least one member is literate. This may limit the
socio-economic range over which this method is viable. With recall methods, there is a
question as to how reliable the respondent's memory is for meals prepared more than two
days previously. Weighed records of foods consumed is certainly the preferred method in
terms of accuracy, and is the only method recommended where there have been no previous
measurement of food consumption. However, this method is by far the most costly, in terms
of manpower, training and organisation. It is the method which should be included in
nutrition surveys because of the accuracy which can be achieved.


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