Exhaustive measurement of food items in the home using a universal product code scanner.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to develop, test and describe the Exhaustive Home Food Inventory (EHFI), which measures foods in the home using scanning of the universal product code (UPC) and EHFI software to link codes to food identities and energy values.


METHODS
Observational design with up to three repeated measures in each household yielded a total of 218 inventories.


METHODS
Eighty private households in North Carolina.


METHODS
Low-income African-American women with an infant between the ages of 12 and 18 months. Recruitment rate was 71 %.


RESULTS
Approximately 12 200 different food items were successfully recorded using the EHFI method. The average number of food items within a household was 147. The time required for the first measurement in a home declined from 157 to 136 min (P < 0·05) for the first third compared to the last third of homes measured. In the sixty-four households in which three assessments were performed, the time required decreased from 145 to 97 min as did the time per item from 1·10 to 0·73 min.


CONCLUSIONS
It is feasible to record all foods and drinks in the home using UPC scanning. Further development and enhancement of databases linking UPC to food identification, nutrients and other information are needed.
Stevens
June
J
Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, CB 7461, NC 27599-7461, USA. June_Stevens@unc.edu
Bryant
Maria
M
Wang
Lily
L
Borja
Judith
J
Bentley
Margaret E
ME
D000328:Adult; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*