Italian national dietary survey on adult population from 10 up to 74 years old – IV SCAI ADULT

Abstract

This final scientific report under the EFSA contract OC/EFSA/DATA/2014/02-LOT2-CT05 aims to describe the activities performed to design, prepare, test, implement the national food consumption survey on Italian individuals from 10 up to 74 years old. The report highlights the adaptations according to the EFSA “Guidance on the EU Menu methodology” on the dietary assessment method (24-hour dietary recall), sample selection, dietary software (FoodSoft 1.0), food description, food classification (FoodEx2 system), and data transfer. The IV SCAI – ADULT has started on 9^th December 2014 when the contract between CREA and EFSA was signed. 1203 individuals accepted to participate in the survey. The sample was representative of the whole national territory and four main geographical areas (North West, North East, Centre, South & Islands). Subjects were recruited in the period between 2018-2020, reaching the 84.1% response rate according to the ratio between the number of participants and the number of contacted individuals. Adolescents (10-17 years old), adults (18-64 years old), elderly (65-74 years old) were the age classes covered. Τhe collection of food consumption was carried out through two 24-hour dietary recall interviews and the time interval between these was at least 15 days. The whole study was embedded in a training course path divided into different phases. Each phase of the course path led to select fieldworkers that attended the final on-the-job course within which data were collected. The adopted approach allowed for training and standardizing on a continuous basis the personnel and selecting a representative group of medical doctors, nutritionists, and dietitians covering the whole territory.