Food consumption data

Food consumption score (FCS)

The Food Consumption Score (FCS) is an index developed by the World Food Program (WFP) in 1996. The FCS, as shown in Table 1, quantifies household food consumption data based on the diversity and frequency of food groups consumed over the previous seven days (1-week time period). The score is then weighted according to the relative nutritional value of the consumed food groups. For instance, food groups consisting of nutritionally-dense items (e.g., livestock produce) are given higher weights compared to those containing less nutritionally-dense food items (e.g., root crops). Using this score, a household’s food consumption is classified into one of three categories: poor, borderline, or acceptable. The food consumption score serves as a secondary indicator of household caloric availability.

Table 1. Food categories and food items with their weights to calculate the FCS

(Source: INDDEX Project, (2019), Data4Diets: Building Blocks for Diet-related Food Security Analysis. Tufts University, Boston, MA. https://inddex.nutrition.tufts.edu/data4diets. Accessed on 6 November 2019).
 

The maximum value for FCS is 112, representing the scenario where all the food groups are consumed every day for one week. The score ranges were defined as follows: 0 to 21 as poor, 21.5 to 35 as borderline, and greater than 35 as acceptable.

Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS)

A Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) was calculated to assess the accessibility of food items within households (USAID). The HDDS is a straightforward index computed by counting the total number of different food groups consumed within a specified time period and is considered a proxy indicator for food security. The HDDS utilizes the following 12 food groups for calculation: cereals, fish and seafood, root and tubers, pulses/legumes/nuts, vegetables, milk and milk products, fruits, oils/fats, meat, poultry, edible meat offal, sugar/honey, eggs, and miscellaneous items. The index was determined by counting the total number of food groups consumed within the last 24 hours of the day when the survey was conducted in the current study. The maximum value for the index is 12, indicating the highest diversity in domestic food consumption.

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Food consumption & dietary diversity

Data authority: National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka - Grant No. NTRP/217/CC&ND/TA-04/P-02/01