National Food Survey for 1997

Citation

(1999), "National Food Survey for 1997", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 99 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.1999.01799bab.003

National Food Survey for 1997

National Food Survey for 1997

This survey showed that household consumption of fresh fruit continued its long term upward trend, rising 4 per cent over 1996 and being nearly a quarter higher than ten years ago. Consumption of fresh vegetables also rose by 4 per cent for the second year running but it was still slightly lower than a decade ago. Household consumption of skimmed milk, low calorie soft drinks, mineral water and alcoholic drinks are also on a long term upward trend for the population taken as a whole. The percentage of food energy derived from fat again fell slightly (to 39.1 per cent from 39.7 per cent in 1996 and 41.7 per cent in 1992). Percentage of food energy from saturated fatty acids has fallen to 15.3 per cent from 16.3 per cent in 1992. The survey is a long established source of information on food purchases and nutritional value of the domestic diet based on a sample of around 6,000 households who were asked to keep a diary of their household and eating out food and drink purchases for one week. The results are broken down by region, household composition, income group of the head of the household and the age of the main diary keeper. The bottom 10 per cent of households in terms of income per person spent 28 per cent (£10 per person per week) of their income on food and drink compared with an average over all households of 17 per cent (£16 per person per week). The 1997 National Food Survey is available from The Stationery Office, price £28, ISBN 0-11-243044-9. Persons in households in the lowest income group consumed more whole milk but less skimmed than average, more minced lamb and mutton but less beef, pork and poultry, more beef sausages, frozen burgers and frozen meat pies, pasties and puddings but less bacon and ham, more white bread but less brown and wholemeal bread, more dried rice and canned pasta but fewer cakes and biscuits. For fibre there was a clear trend for increasing intakes with income. This can largely be attributed to differences in consumption of fruit and vegetables.