title: Supermarket sales data: feasibility and applicability in population food and nutrition monitoring.
abstract: Population food and nutrition monitoring plays a critical role in understanding suboptimal nutrition at the population level, yet current monitoring methods such as national surveys are not practical to undertake on a continuous basis. Supermarket sales data potentially address this gap by providing detailed, timely, and inexpensive monitoring data for informing policies and anticipating trends. This paper reviews 22 studies that used supermarket sales data to examine food purchasing patterns. Despite some methodological limitations, feasibility studies showed promising results. The potential and limitations of using supermarket sales data to supplement food and nutrition monitoring methods are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trials Research Unit, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Sandar Tin
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Tin
authors.forename: Cliona Ni
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Mhurchu
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bullen
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D019649:Food Industry / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods