Publications

The relationship between food insecurity and dietary outcomes. An analysis conducted with nationally representative data from Kenya, Mexico, Samoa and the Sudan
02/08/2021
Little research has been conducted on the association of food insecurity, particularly at the moderate level, and dietary consumption in low- and middle-income countries. This study expands on previous works by considering cross-country comparable measures of food insecurity that are calibrated against the global Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). The FAO Statistics Division has been publishing estimates of the prevalence of food insecurity, based on the FIES, since 2017.

The complexity of producing and interpreting dietary vitamin A statistics. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Volume 100, 2021
08/04/2021
Producing, reporting, and interpreting vitamin A statistics present multiple challenges largely attributable to the systems of equivalence used to convert pro-vitamin A carotenoids into retinol equivalents, and to the criteria used by institutions to set recommendations.

Raw versus cooked food matching: Nutrient intake using the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, Volume 102, 2021
05/03/2021
In many countries, statistics from household consumption and expenditure surveys are increasingly being used to inform policies and programs. In household surveys, foods are typically reported as they are acquired (the majority are raw).

Optimizing the use of ADePT-Food Security Module for Nutrient Analysis
01/01/2018
This document describes the updates introduced in ADePT-FSM version 3 to improve its capacity for nutritional analysis by adding new indicators and refining methodologies. It also describes how to optimize the use of other indicators, produced already by ADePT-FSM version 2, for an enhanced nutritional analysis.

The impact of survey characteristics on the measurement of food consumption, Food Policy, Volume 72, 2017
13/09/2017
Surveys focused on food acquisition collect higher food quantities compared to those that target food consumption. Surveys based on recall interviews collect higher food quantities compared to those based on diaries, but the difference decreases with long reference periods.

National food security assessment through the analysis of food consumption data from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys: The case of Brazil’s Pesquisa de Orçamento Familiares 2008/09, Food Policy, Volume 72, 2017
31/08/2017
This article focuses on the use of Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCES) as a source of data to inform food security assessments. We argue that the quality and characteristics of food consumption data collected in HCES may limit the reliability of food security assessments, as parameters estimated from survey data may be biased due to systematic flaws in the collection of food data.

Analyzing Food Security Using Household Survey Data : Streamlined Analysis with ADePT Software
01/01/2014
The stand-alone software, ADePT-Food Security Module (available for free downloading), was developed to produce food security indicators from food consumption data collected in household surveys. These indicators, derived at the national and subnational levels, include the consumption of calories and macronutrients, the availability of micronutrients and amino acids, the distribution of calories and the proportion of people undernourished.