National Food Consumption Survey among 10 – 74 years old individuals in Serbia

Abstract

The Serbian National Food Consumption Survey on adults aged from 10 to 74 years, pregnant women and vegetarians was conducted between 2017 and 2021 according to the EFSA EU Menu methodology. Valid data was collected from a total of 3018 participants (overall response rate 75.02%) with 856 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (response rate 64.75% among female and 67.33% among male population), 1155 adults aged 18 to 64 (response rate 82.74% among female and 79.39% among male population), 581 elderly subjects aged 65 to 74 years (response rate 78.96% among female and 79.15% among male population), 145 pregnant women (response rate 74.74%), and 281 persons following the vegetarian diet (response rate 75.13%). The most complete population register in the Republic of Serbia was used as the sampling frame and three stratification layers were applied: age, gender and residential area. Recruitment was organised and conducted by the project team members at the household level, with not more than one individual recruited per household. The inclusion of subjects belonging to ad-hoc groups was performed in accordance with the convenience sampling procedure, with a variety of complementing recruitment strategies targeting these specific populations. Data collection was conducted using project-specific national Survey Pack that included: General questionnaire, age appropriate Food Propensity Questionnaire, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and 24hrs dietary recall. A food picture book, developed and validated for simple foods and dishes commonly consumed in the Balkan region, was used to assist the assessment of portion sizes. Data collection was conducted by trained interviewers with nutritional background within face-to-face interviews. Serbian national survey was extended to all regions of the country, covered four seasons and all days of the week, with 72% of diaries referring to working days and 28% to weekend days. Prior to the nationwide data collection, a pilot study was implemented to test the feasibility and acceptability of the methodology, pre-defined study schedule, and survey instruments. Dietary pattern of the whole year was represented, including the periodically consumed foods and the festive calendar. Advanced nutritional platform Diet Assess and Plan (DAP) was applied for data storage, processing and creation of the final dataset for transfer to EFSA.