Recall consumption surveys

Food consumption surveys are often conducted using the dietary recall or food diary methodologies. In the dietary recall technique, either direct face-to-face interviews or telephone interviews may be used to obtain food consumption data. Consumption amounts frequently are estimated using standard equipment, pictures, and diagrams to aid participants in estimating the amount of food consumed. Data from such recall surveys may be used for both chronic and acute dietary risk assessment The food consumption surveys on which the US dietary risk assessment models are based are of the dietary recall type [14]. 

The food diary method of collecting food consumption data requires survey participants to maintain a journal of the foods they consume. The food diary methodology is much more rigorous than the dietary recall. One variation of the food diary method requires survey participants to measure (perhaps by weighing) the amount of food they consume. The UK food consumption surveys use the food diary technique, and participants are required to weigh the amount of food that is consumed [ 15,16,17,18]. 

U.S. population (EPA 1997). Stem et al. (1996) used data from a fish-consumption-specific telephone survey of New Jersey residents. The survey elicited a 7-day recall. Relatively short-term recall studies can miss long-term patterns of variability in consumption and might not adequately capture consumption patterns of infrequent consumers. To address those issues, information on respondents usual frequency of fish consumption was also elicited. That information allowed identification of infrequent consumers of fish in the sample. The information was used to investigate leweighting of the data to estimate the distribution of consumption frequency represented... 

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