USDA food consumption research: parade of survey greats

This paper recognizes some of the scientists who conducted food consumption surveys and related methodology research for USDA over the past century. Information presented is drawn from published documents, interviews with scientists, and personal experiences of the author. "Survey greats" are identified for each of six time periods starting with W.O. Atwater in the period prior to 1900. Their activities are traced along several lines: The purposes and populations for which they sought food consumption information; the techniques they used to select survey participants and to collect and analyze data; the nature of the country's food supplies; and the understanding, at the time, of the nutritional composition of foods and of what constituted a good diet. Over the past century many creative and dedicated food consumption researchers have advanced their science to meet the demands for dietary information, taking advantage of new technologies and statistical procedures.