At A Glance

Website

http://www.ers.usda.gov/foodaps

Purpose

to collect unique and comprehensive data about household food purchases and acquisitions

Target Population

FoodAPS collected data from a sample of 4,826 households and is nationally representative. To capture enough low-income households, the sample was stratified by SNAP participation and income. The survey had four target groups, defined in terms of participation in the SNAP and total reported household income:
• Households receiving SNAP benefits, with a target sample size of 1,500;
• Non-SNAP households with income less than the poverty guideline, with a target sample size of 800;
• Non-SNAP households with income greater than or equal to 100 percent and less than 185 percent the poverty guideline, with
a target sample size of 1,200; and
• Non-SNAP households with income greater or equal to 185 percent of the poverty guideline, with a target sample size of
1,500.

Conducted

The survey was fielded between April 2012 and January 2013.
Data collection for FoodAPS-2 is planned to take place in 2020, and data are targeted to be released to the public in 2022.

Sponsor

Economic Research Service (ERS) and Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) co-sponsored FoodAPS

Sampling

Sample Design

FoodAPS collected the data from a nationally representative, stratified sample of 4,826 households between April 2012 and January 2013. Stratification was based on participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and total household income; the four strata were:
• Households receiving SNAP benefits, with a target sample size of 1,500 (actual 1,581),
• Non-SNAP households with income less than the poverty guideline, with a target sample size of 800 (actual 346),
• Non-SNAP households with income at or above 100 percent of the poverty guideline and less than 185 percent of that level,
with a target sample size of 1,200 (actual 851), and
• Non-SNAP households with income equal to or greater than 185 percent of the poverty guideline, with a target sample size of
1,500 (actual 2,048).
The FoodAPS sample of households was selected using two sample frames and a multi-stage sample design covering the contiguous United States. The first stage of the sampling process selected a stratified sample of 50 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs, defined as counties or groups of contiguous counties). The selection was proportional to size (PPS), with the measure of size (MOS) for each PSU being a composite that reflected the overall sample targets and the estimated population in each PSU for each of the four strata.

Sample Size

Nationally representative data from 4,826 households, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households, low-income households not participating in SNAP, and higher income households. More information here

Special Note(s)

FoodAPS collected data on all food acquisitions and purchases by all members of sampled households over a 7-day period.

Key Variables

Demographic

Name
Household Income
Race/Ethnicity
Sex
Education level
Age

Diet-Related

Name
Quantities and expenditures for all at-home and away-from-home foods and beverages purchased and acquired from all sources by all household members over a seven-day period.
Eating occasions by all household members.
Household characteristics, including income, program participation, non-food expenditures, food security, health status, and diet and nutrition knowledge.
Household access to food, including location of purchase and distance to food stores and restaurants.

Geocode/Linkage

Name
State

Data Access and Cost

Data Availability

ERS has expanded access to FoodAPS data by removing identifying variables and publishing public-use data files. Users can now download the public-use data in three file formats: SAS, STATA, and CSV.

The Data Access page has instructions about how to gain access to restricted-use FoodAPS data.

Cost

The public-use FoodAPS data are available for free.

To access the restricted FoodAPS data, researchers with approved project agreements will receive training to remotely access a secure data enclave. The annual cost to obtain a lead account to access the data enclave is $4350 for one principal investigator (PI) or one researcher. PIs can add an unlimited number of researchers; however, for each additional researcher with an account to access the data enclave, an additional cost of $2,250 per year will be incurred.

Geocode/Linkage

Geocode Variable(s)

Data for all 50 FoodAPS primary sampling units are provided at different geographic levels—census block groups, census tracts, and counties—depending upon the availability of data.

Existing Linkages

NA

Special Note(s)

Information on the nutrient characteristics of each acquired food item are contained in nutrient files. An overview of the nutrient coding process is provided in FoodAPS Nutrient Coding Overview.

Selected Publications

Diet-Related

Nutritional Quality of Foods Acquired by Americans: Findings From USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey [https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=87530]

Re-evaluating associations between the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation and body mass index in the context of unmeasured confounders [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617305543]

The Differences in Characteristics Among Households With and Without Obese Children: Findings From USDA’s FoodAPS [https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=85027]

The Relationship Between Patronizing Direct-to-Consumer Outlets and a Household’s Demand for Fruits and Vegetables [https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=86877]

Methods

Interviewer effects in food acquisition surveys [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/AE9888B7B0D05D76140A8FE71E6D762C/S1368980018000137a.pdf/interviewer_effects_in_food_acquisition_surveys.pdf]

Nonresponse and Underreporting Errors Increase over the Data Collection Week Based on Paradata from the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey [https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/147/5/964/4584758?related-urls=yes&legid=nutrition;147/5/964&cited-by=yes&legid=nutrition;147/5/964]

Resources

Public-Use Data Files and Codebooks

Retail Environment Study Codebook

[User’s Guide to Survey Design, Data Collection, and Overview of Datasets}<https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/8804/0_foodaps-user-guide-puf.pdf>