Smart Food Intake: development of a 2-hour recall methodology to measure context specific food intake and underlying food choice motives : overview of the project

An energising smoothie for breakfast, a convenient sandwich for lunch at work and a healthy and tasty curry for the family di nne r. During the day, we make different eating choices, depending on where we are and with whom we eat. To better collect insights in the wha t, where, when and why of food consumption, the food industry has expressed the need for more advanced data collection methods for food in take and its determinants. Current methods of monitoring food intake and food choice motives come with a range of drawbacks, inclu din g 1) a lack of linkage between food intake and its determinants, 2) a lack of inclusion of contextual variability, 3) high measureme nt errors, 4) time consuming data collection and 5) a high burden for the consumer and the researcher. Therefore, Smart Food Intake aimed to develop an innovative flexible methodology that enables to collect reliable food intake data and underlying food choice motives as important determinants of food intake. For that purpose, this project successfully developed a 2 hour recall ("snapshot") methodology. The methodology has proven to provide an adequate estimate of actual dietary intake and an acceptable estimate of habitual dietary intake via different sampling strat egi es. In addition, the measurement of food choice motives showed stable results in similar contexts and showed variability across different eati ng contexts, indicating the added value of measuring in context. The test retest reliability and the content validity of the food choice moti ves was satisfactory. The integrated methodology, combining assessment of food intake, the eating context and food choice motives, is positively evaluated. The SFI Traqq app has been developed to function as a tool to apply the integrated methodology in combination with survey software and is evaluated by users as easy and nice to use, and not too lengthy. The modular approach ensures the flexibility to easily adjust to specific research questions and enables to research 1) what people eat, 2) why they eat that, and 3) how this differs across eating contexts. These insights could help the food industry to stimulate m ore healthy and sustainable food consumption, by tailoring food formulations, communication and interventions towards various target groups a nd eating contexts better than before