Exhaustive measurement of food items in the home using a universal product code scanner

Public Health Nutrition

Judith Borja¹  Margaret E Bentley¹  Lily Wang¹  June Stevens¹  Maria Bryant¹ 

关键词: Methodology;    Availability;    Home;    Environment;    Food;    Diet;    Obesity;   

DOI  :  10.1017/S1368980010001837

学科分类：卫生学

来源: Cambridge University Press

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveWe aimed to develop, test and describe the Exhaustive Home Food Inventory (EHFI), which measures foods in the home using scanning of the universal product code (UPC) and EHFI software to link codes to food identities and energy values.DesignObservational design with up to three repeated measures in each household yielded a total of 218 inventories.SettingEighty private households in North Carolina.SubjectsLow-income African-American women with an infant between the ages of 12 and 18 months. Recruitment rate was 71 %.ResultsApproximately 12 200 different food items were successfully recorded using the EHFI method. The average number of food items within a household was 147. The time required for the first measurement in a home declined from 157 to 136 min (P < 0·05) for the first third compared to the last third of homes measured. In the sixty-four households in which three assessments were performed, the time required decreased from 145 to 97 min as did the time per item from 1·10 to 0·73 min.ConclusionsIt is feasible to record all foods and drinks in the home using UPC scanning. Further development and enhancement of databases linking UPC to food identification, nutrients and other information are needed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown