European food availability databank based on household budget surveys: the Data Food Networking initiative

There is a need in Europe for sources of dietary data that would provide a regular flow of comparable nutrition information. In this context, the Data Food Networking (DAFNE) project has been developing a cost-effective food databank that allows monitoring of food availability within and between countries.

The DAFNE project has developed a common classification system for the food and socio-demographic variables recorded in the national household budget surveys. Daily individual food availability was estimated for each participating country and basic descriptive statistics were used to depict the nutritional habits of the populations.

The DAFNE databank is freely accessible through DafneSoft (www.nut.uoa.gr). Three figures, based on Greek, Norwegian and UK data respectively, were selected to indicatively present the potential of the DAFNE data in order to monitor changes in the availability of 12 food groups over time; to study the effect of education in the total added lipid availability; and to follow time changes in fresh vegetable availability between manual and non-manual households.

The HBS data allows the highlighting of issues related to nutrition surveillance. The application of the DAFNE methodology in developing a databank of standardized dietary data offers a realistic option for monitoring dietary habits in Europe. Benefiting from this potential, the European Union may additionally consider the undertaking of a pan-European individual dietary survey, in a sub-sample of the household budget population.