title: Linking supermarket sales data to nutritional information: an informatics feasibility study.
abstract: Grocery sales are a data source of potential value to dietary assessment programs in public health informatics. However, the lack of a computable method for mapping between nutrient and food item information represents a major obstacle. We studied the feasibility of linking point-of-sale data to USDA-SR nutrient database information in a sustainable way. We analyzed 2,009,533 de-identified sales items purchased by 32,785 customers over a two-week period. We developed a method using the item category hierarchy in the supermarket's database to link purchased items to records from the USDA-SR. We describe our methodology and its rationale and limitations. Approximately 70% of all items were mapped and linked to the SR; approximately 90% of all items could be mapped with an equivalent expenditure of additional effort. 100% of all items were mapped to USDA standard food groups. We conclude that mapping grocery sales data to nutritional information is feasible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Kristina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Brinkerhoff
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Brewster
authors.forename: Edward B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Kristine C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Mollie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hurdle
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D019649:Food Industry; D005515:Food Labeling; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D009753:Nutritive Value; D014481:United States