FOOD PURCHASE PATTERNS AT THE SUPERMARKET AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

The purpose of this study was to develop a system for characterizing f ood purchases by families using supermarket receipt data. One hundred and five shoppers contributed data that represented 363 people (138 ch ildren and 225 adults). Participants provided food purchase receipt da ta for at least 6 weeks, which included an average of at least 20 food items/week. Receipt information was entered by trained technicians fo r analysis using a database of over 2600 distinct foods containing nut ritional information. Eight-five percent of the items on the store rec eipts were identifiable by item and quantity from the information prin ted on the receipt; the data on the remaining items was determined by shopper annotation or by use of a default value. The average percent o f energy purchased as fat by this convenience sample was 38.4%, total fiber purchased was 6.61 g/1000 kcal, and number of servings of fruits and vegetables was 1.44/1000 kcal. All foods were divided among 11 ca tegories to evaluate the contributions of particular food groups to en ergy fat, and fiber purchase. The three major contributors to fat purc hase were, in order, ''add-on and cooking fats;'' ''meats, poultry, an d fish;'' and ''dairy.'' Purchased fiber came primarily from ''produce ,'' with ''breads'' and ''cereals'' next in proportion. The families a t highest risk for poor nutrition quality of purchases were those with lower socioeconomic status, more children, and younger age of the pri mary shopper. This receipt collection system was successful in providi ng specific nutrition data on purchases of over 100 families. The asse ssment system is unique in that tracking of shopping patterns of indiv idual families can be accomplished.