Processing food consumption data from household consumption and expenditure surveys (HCES)

Household consumption and expenditure surveys (HCES) have been typically undertaken to compile information for important macroeconomic indicators, such as consumer price indices, and to provide input into national accounts. With time, the use of HCES has been extended to welfare and poverty analysis, and more recently to food security and nutrition analysis. The food data collected in HCES provides core information for these types of analyses. However, the data is comprehensive and complex to process; users, based on their needs or interests, often tend to follow different approaches when preparing the data for analysis. When data from the same survey is processed independently for different uses, it quite often leads to inconsistent results. Such practice is inefficient and costly.