ERS Charts of Note
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Wednesday, June 8, 2016
While Americans’ per capita consumption of all caloric sweeteners has been falling for the last decade and a half, per capita honey consumption has been on an upward trend. In 2014, Americans consumed an average of 0.9 pound of honey per person, according to ERS’s Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data, up from 0.5 pound in 1990. Much of the increased honey consumption is imported honey. Honey imports in 2014 totaled 365.3 million pounds, up from an average of 104.4 million pounds per year in the early 1990s. Domestic net production of honey (domestic production minus exports and stocks), once at an average of 167.9 million pounds in the early 1990s, has fallen to an average of 106.7 million pounds in the last 7 years, despite short-term increases in 2010 and 2014. Weakening colony strength from multiple honey bee health challenges and changes in land use patterns are among the factors contributing to declining domestic honey production. The data for this chart come from the Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System and the Sugar and Sweeteners Yearbook Tables.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
A recent linking of ERS’s loss-adjusted food availability data with intake surveys from 1994-2008 reveals that American children are doing a better job of cutting down on sugary beverages and other sweetened foods than adults are. In 1994-98, children ages 2 to 19 consumed 94.0 pounds per person per year of caloric sweeteners compared with 81.4 pounds consumed by adults. Over the next decade, per-capita consumption of caloric sweeteners by children fell to 77.4 pounds per year, while adults’ consumption rose before returning to 1994-98 levels. Caloric sweeteners include cane and beet sugar, high fructose corn sweeteners, glucose, dextrose, honey, and edible syrups—common ingredients in sweetened beverages, baked goods, spaghetti sauces, ketchups, and a host of other processed foods. Over 1994-2008, consumption of sweeteners declined across all income and race/ethnicity groups, with Hispanics and other races/ethnicities consuming less caloric sweeteners than non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks. The data for this chart and similar information on 62 other food commodities can be found in the ERS report, U.S. Food Commodity Consumption Broken Down by Demographics, 1994-2008, March 2016.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
In 2013, 29.6 pounds per person of lettuce and fresh greens were available for domestic consumption, according to ERS’s Food Availability Data. Per-capita availability of lettuce and fresh greens declined by 22 percent from its high of 37.9 pounds per person in 2004. Much of the decrease is due to declining consumption of head lettuce. Head lettuce (iceberg) availability, at 14.1 pounds per person in 2013, has fallen by 41 percent from 24 pounds in 1997. At the same time, romaine and leaf lettuce availability has almost doubled, rising from 6.6 pounds per person in 1997 to 11.4 pounds in 2013. The growing popularity of prepackaged, ready-to-eat salad greens contributed to the rise in availability of romaine and leaf lettuce. Availability of other fresh greens (collard greens, escarole and endive, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens) came in at 2.5 pounds per person in 2013, while fresh spinach availability was 1.6 pounds per person. The data for this chart come from the Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
A recent linking of ERS’s loss-adjusted food availability data with intake surveys from 1994-2008 reveals that consumers with incomes above 185 percent of the Federal poverty ($21,200 for a family of four in 2008) consistently consumed greater quantities of nuts than consumers with lower incomes, and the gap was higher in more recent years. Nut allergies and consumers’ perceptions about the cost of peanuts and tree nuts may play a role in consumption patterns. In 2007-08, higher income Americans ate 6.7 pounds of peanuts per person per year and 3.7 pounds of tree nuts, compared with the 4.5 pounds of peanuts and 1.4 pounds of tree nuts consumed by lower income consumers. Children consumed more peanuts per person than adults during 1994-98, but since then, adults have consumed more peanuts than children. Adults ate more tree nuts than children did in all survey years, and non-Hispanic Whites consumed more peanuts and tree nuts than non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics. This chart and similar information on 60 other food commodities can be found in the ERS report, U.S. Food Commodity Consumption Broken Down by Demographics, 1994-2008, released on March 30, 2016.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Fruits and vegetables can be purchased in fresh, canned, dried, and juiced forms. Oftentimes, different forms of the same fruit or vegetable are interchangeable. For example, when cooking some types of stew, fresh or frozen carrots may be used. However, which is less expensive, fresh or processed? ERS researchers estimated average prices paid in 2013 for 24 fresh fruits, 40 fresh vegetables, and 92 processed fruits and vegetables, measured in cup equivalents. A cup equivalent is the edible portion that will generally fit in a standard 1-cup measuring cup; for lettuce and other raw leafy vegetables, a cup equivalent is 2 cups, and for raisins and other dried fruits, one-half cup. Neither fresh nor processed products turned out to be consistently less expensive. Fresh carrots eaten raw are less expensive to consume than canned carrots and frozen carrots. Fresh apples are similarly cheaper than applesauce. However, canned corn and frozen raspberries are less costly than fresh corn and fresh raspberries, respectively. Relative retail prices may reflect the different prices received by growers, as well as differences in processing, handling, and spoilage costs, which vary by form and product. This chart appears in “Fruit and Vegetable Recommendations Can Be Met for $2.10 to $2.60 per Day” in ERS’s Amber Waves magazine, March 2016.
Friday, March 18, 2016
According to ERS’s Food Availability data, the amount of peanuts available for consumption in the United States has averaged 6.6 pounds per person per year over the last decade compared with 5.9 pounds in the prior 10 years. The 2002 Farm Act removed longstanding regulatory quotas that limited supplies, and beginning in 2003, higher production and lower farm-level peanut prices may have helped spur demand for peanuts and peanut products. Availability of peanut butter grew from 2.9 pounds per person in 2002 to 3.9 pounds per person in 2012, and accounted for 58 percent of peanut availability that year. Availability of snack peanuts and other peanuts (20 percent of peanut availability in 2012) and peanut candy (18 percent of availability) has been basically flat over the decade. Availability of shell peanuts fell in 2012. Total peanut availability declined to 5.9 pounds per person in 2013. The data for this chart come from Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Canned fruits account for about 10 percent of all fruit consumed by Americans. Canned products can be convenient and available when fresh products are out of season. When buying canned fruit, ChooseMyPlate—USDA’s campaign to promote the Dietary Guidelines—recommends choosing fruit packed in 100-percent juice rather than syrup. Looking at grocery store shelf prices, consumers might believe that fruit packed in syrup is the less expensive option, but this is generally not the case. Five canned fruits in the ERS Fruit and Vegetable Prices data product—apricots, peaches, pears, pineapples, and fruit cocktail—were more expensive to buy at retail stores on a per-pound basis when packed in juice. However, because consuming juice counts towards an individual’s recommended fruit intake, four of these products were cheaper on a per-edible-cup-equivalent basis when packed in juice. An edible cup equivalent of fruit is generally the edible portion of a food that would fill a 1-cup measuring cup. This chart is based on the recent ERS report, The Cost of Satisfying Fruit and Vegetable Recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines released on February 26, 2016.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
According to the ERS Food Availability data, 66.3 pounds of oranges per person were available for domestic consumption in 2013. Fresh oranges made up 16 percent of the available oranges (10.4 pounds per person), while 84 percent was in the form of juice (55.9 pounds per person, fresh-weight equivalent). Per capita availability of orange juice, which accounts for over half of U.S. fruit juice availability, has declined by 42 percent from its high of 97.1 pounds per person in 1977. In addition to a long-term decline in demand, reduced production has played a role in lower orange juice availability. Diseases, primarily citrus canker and citrus greening, continue to plague the citrus industry, especially in Florida, the main supplier of U.S.-grown oranges for juice. Eradication efforts have resulted in reduced U.S. citrus acreage and declining production since the late 1990s, and steady orange juice imports have not offset reduced U.S. production. The data for this chart come from the Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.
Monday, January 25, 2016
In 2013, 57.7 pounds of chicken per person on a boneless, edible basis were available for Americans to eat, compared to 53.6 pounds of beef and 43.4 pounds of pork, according to ERS’s food availability data. From 1909 to the early 1940s, chicken availability had been around 10 pounds per person a year, while yearly per-person beef and pork availability had ranged from between 30 and 50 pounds. Chicken began its upward climb in the 1940s, as innovations in breeding, mass production, and processing made chicken more plentiful, affordable, and convenient for the dining-out market and for cooking at home. By 1996, chicken had overtaken pork as the second-most-consumed meat, and in 2010, chicken overtook beef for the No. 1 spot. Beef availability rose during the second half of the last century, peaking at 88.8 pounds per capita in 1976. Pork availability, which had fallen in 2010 and 2011, was up in 2012 and again in 2013. This chart appears in ERS’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials data product.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
While Americans are consuming more vegetables, dairy products, and fruit than in 1970, the average U.S. diet still falls short of Federal recommendations for these major food groups, as provided in the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released January 7, 2016. In contrast to the recommended daily 2.5 cups of vegetables on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, Americans consumed an average of 1.7 cups in 2013, according to ERS food availability data. That is 68 percent of the recommended amount, up from 60 percent in 1970. In 2013, U.S. consumers ate or drank an average of 1.8 cups of dairy products per day—60 percent of the recommended 3 cups and an increase from 1.6 cups in 1970. Fruit consumption for Americans was the farthest below guidance at 43 percent of the recommended 2 cups. Americans, on average, consumed more than the recommended amount of meat/eggs/nuts and grains in 2013. The data for this chart come from the Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Apples are a fall and winter staple, showing up in lunch boxes, pies, cobblers, crisps, and cider. Second to oranges as the most popular fruit in the United States, 45.8 pounds of apples per person were available for domestic consumption in 2013, according to ERS’s Food Availability data. Forty-seven percent of the available apples for U.S. domestic use (21.4 pounds per person) was in the form of juice and cider, and 38 percent (17.4 pounds per person) was fresh apples. Canned, frozen, dried, and other forms made up the remaining 15 percent of apple availability in 2013. Per-person apple availability peaked at 51.2 pounds in 2006. Much of the decrease since 2006 is due to declining availability of apple juice and cider. In 2006, 26.6 pounds of apples per person were used in juices and cider, while fresh-apple availability in 2006 was 17.9 pounds per person. The data for this chart come from the Food Availability data series in ERS's Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
According to ERS’s Food Availability data, 19.1 gallons of fluid milk were available for each U.S. consumer to drink in 2013, down from a peak of 42.3 gallons in 1945. Declining per capita milk consumption reflects a variety of factors—competition from soft drinks, fruit juices, bottled water, and other beverages; generational differences in the frequency of milk drinking; and a more ethnically diverse population, some of whose diets do not normally include fluid milk. Plain (unflavored) 2-percent milk surpassed plain whole milk in 2005 and became America’s most popular milk. In 2013, plain 2-percent milk accounted for 35 percent of fluid milk availability (6.7 gallons per person), while plain whole-milk availability was 5.2 gallons per person, down from its high of 38 gallons in 1945. Plain 1-percent milk and skim milk each accounted for 14 percent of fluid milk availability. Flavored milks, such as chocolate and strawberry, made up 9 percent of fluid milk availability in 2013. This chart appears in ERS’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials, updated September 18, 2015.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
A series of questions in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) asks respondents aged 16 years and older how often different types of food are kept in their homes, in order to get an idea of the at-home food environment in the United States. In 2007-08 and 2009-10, respondents were asked how often they had salty snacks such as chips and crackers at home, and in both surveys, the most common response was “always,” followed by “sometimes,” “most of the time,” “rarely,” and “never.” Between the two surveys, there was no statistically significant change in the proportion of Americans falling into each category, meaning that the habit of keeping or not keeping salty snacks in the home was unchanged for the population as a whole during this time period. This chart appears in “National Surveys Reveal Modest Improvement in the Types of Foods Available in Americans’ Homes” in the April 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Most Americans have plenty of room to improve the nutritional quality of their diets and how they spend their food dollars. ERS researchers analyzed dietary recall data from the 2011-12 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that average dietary scores of consumers across different household incomes ranged from 48.1 to 54.5 on a scale from 0 to 100. (A score of 100 indicated full compliance with Federal dietary guidance.) How consumers allocate their grocery store food dollars among food categories reflect these scores. U.S. households across income levels had similar spending patterns for most food categories—allocating a much smaller share to fruits and vegetables (17 to 19 percent) than miscellaneous foods, such as soft drinks, frozen meals, salad dressings, and snacks (34 to 37 percent). This chart appears in “Following Dietary Guidance Need Not Cost More—But Many Americans Would Need to Re-Allocate Their Food Budgets” in ERS’s September 2015 Amber Waves magazine.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
When consumers are advised in the produce aisle that “More Matters,” they are not just being encouraged to eat a greater quantity of fruits and vegetables, but more variety as well. Restricting one’s diet to a limited set of vegetables precludes the desired variety that would supply more diverse, healthful nutrients. According to ERS’s Food Availability data, just three vegetables—white potatoes, tomatoes, and lettuce—accounted for 59 percent of the vegetables and legumes that were available for consumption in 2013. White potatoes accounted for 30 percent of the 384.4 pounds per person of vegetables and legumes available in 2013. Tomatoes had a 22-percent share, with 20.2 pounds per person of fresh tomatoes and 65.9 pounds per person of processed tomatoes. Fresh lettuce (head lettuce, romaine, and leaf lettuce) rounded out the top 3 vegetables at 25.5 pounds per person—7 percent of 2013’s total vegetable and legume availability. This chart appears in “Potatoes and Tomatoes Account for Over Half of U.S. Vegetable Availability” in the September 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Monday, July 6, 2015
A series of questions in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) asks respondents ages 16 and older how often different types of food are kept in their homes in order to get an idea of the at-home food environment in the United States. In 2007-08 and 2009-10, respondents were asked how often they had 1 percent or skim milk available at home, and in both surveys, the most common response was “never,” followed by “always.” However, between the two surveys, the share of people saying that they “always” kept such beverages at home increased by 4.5 percentage points, rising from 32 percent in 2007-08 to 36.5 percent in 2009-10. This increase in Americans reporting that they always have 1 percent or skim milk available at home is a positive nutrition trend, as Americans aged 2 years and older are advised to consume lower-fat milk (skim or 1 percent) as opposed to whole or 2 percent milk. This chart appears in “National Surveys Reveal Modest Improvement in the Types of Foods Available in Americans’ Homes” in the April 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
According to ERS’s Food Availability data, per capita supplies of fruit available for consumption in the United States have fallen over the last decade after rising since the early 1970s. In 2010-12, per capita fruit availability was 251 pounds per person (fresh-weight equivalent), down from 281 pounds per person in 2000-02. Increased U.S. production and greater imports of some types of fruit have not compensated for decreased U.S. citrus production. Fresh fruit accounted for 52 percent of fruit availability in 2010-12, up from a 42-percent share in 1970-72. Bananas, apples, and oranges were the most popular fresh fruits in 2010-12, accounting for 40 percent of fresh fruit availability. Processed fruit availability (canned, juice, frozen, and dried forms) has steadily fallen since reaching a peak of 171 pounds per person (fresh-weight equivalent) in 1977 to a low of 114 pounds in 2012. The bulk of the decline came from juice, especially orange juice. Availability of orange juice fell from 97 pounds per person in 1977 to 44 pounds in 2012. This chart appears in “Fresh Fruit Makes Up a Growing Share of U.S. Fruit Availability” in the May 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
A series of questions in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) asks respondents aged 16 and older how often different types of food are kept in their home in order to get an idea of the food environment in U.S. homes. In 2007-08 and 2009-10, respondents were asked how often they had soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, or fruit punch available at home. In both surveys, the most common response was “always,” followed by “sometimes.” However, between the two surveys, the share of people saying that they “always” kept such beverages at home fell by 7.1 percentage points, and the share of “never” rose by 2.2 percentage points—positive trends for Americans, who typically over-consume added sugars in foods and beverages. This chart appears in “National Surveys Reveal Modest Improvement in the Types of Foods Available in Americans’ Homes” in the April 2015 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Research has shown that participants in USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) tend to consume lower quality diets than nonparticipants. Pessimism about the value of dietary change may be one of the culprits. Analysis of responses to questions in the Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey module of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that 40 percent of SNAP participants indicated that they felt no need to change their diets; in contrast, only 25 percent of higher income shoppers felt no need to make dietary changes. (Higher income adults are those with household incomes above 185 percent of the Federal poverty threshold.) SNAP participants were also more likely than other respondents to agree with the statement "some people are born to be fat and some thin; there is not much you can do to change this.” This may indicate differences in perceptions of self-efficacy among SNAP participants compared to higher income shoppers. Alternatively, it may be that the other stresses of living in poverty make maintaining diet and health as a top priority more difficult. This chart appears in “SNAP Households Must Balance Multiple Priorities to Achieve a Healthful Diet” in the November 2014 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
According to ERS’s Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data, U.S. consumption of eggs fell during the 1970s and 1980s from 24 pounds per person in 1971 to 18.2 pounds in 1990. Egg consumption stayed fairly flat before rising some in the late 1990s. Concerns over cholesterol in eggs (related to heart disease), and an increase in fast food restaurants offering non-egg breakfast items such as yogurt, fruit salads, oatmeal, etc., likely influenced the decline. Roughly 70 percent of the 19 pounds of eggs per person (the equivalent of 144 eggs) that Americans consumed in 2012 were shell eggs, and 30 percent were processed egg products, where eggs have been removed from the shell, pasteurized, and then packaged in liquid, frozen, or dried form. Though some processed products are available in grocery stores, many processed egg products are used by food manufacturing and foodservice companies. On a daily basis, Americans consumed an average of 0.8 ounces of eggs per day in 2012, compared to 2.0 ounces of chicken, the most consumed protein in the meat, fish, eggs, and nuts group. In 2012, Americans consumed 529 daily calories per person from the meat, fish, eggs, and nuts group, with 34 calories coming from egg consumption. The data for this chart come from ERS’s Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System.