Ministry of Food and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: National Food Survey...

MAF 95

1940-1990

This series contains all surviving logbooks for selected years of the National Food Survey and its predecessors, and the occasional one-off surveys carried out for special purposes (eg the 1975 fresh milk consumption survey) in the selected years.

Papers relating to the administration of the National Food Survey from 1956, including minutes, papers and reports of the National Food Survey Steering Committee can be found in

Files relating to the preparation of the National Food Survey can be found in MAF 256 MAF 300

Public Record(s)

English

7501 file(s)

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

All years' logbooks have been preserved for the period of the Second World War, and logbooks are preserved for alternate years until the end of rationing and the merger of the Ministry of Food and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1955. Thereafter, logbooks are preserved for every fifth year.

The National Food Survey was first established in 1940 to monitor the diet of the urban working population during rationing in the Second World War.

In 1948 the National Food Survey Committee was set up to supervise this and any other food surveys, and to facilitate the application of survey findings in a national context. In 1950 the National Food Survey was expanded to cover the entire population and to collect data on food consumption and expenditure. This was co-ordinated by the Ministry of Food on an annual basis, with agreed definitions covering items of food, social class, age groups and household incomes. Responsibility for the fieldwork of these annual surveys rested with the London Press Exchange Ltd, but in 1953 it was transferred to the Social Survey Section of the Central Office of Information, which had been responsible for all government surveys. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was always responsible, however, for the collation and presentation of the data obtained, an operation computerised in 1962. Statistics are published annually by HMSO.

After 1953, the size and scope of the NFS underwent considerable expansion. Ideal levels of calorie and mineral intakes were monitored and in-depth surveys of the diets of various social groupings were undertaken. At the same time, more detailed enquiries were being undertaken as part of the annual survey, providing analyses of the expenditure and nutritional intake of various groups of people. The surveys also traced the link between food consumption and social habits, the growth of pre-packed food and increase in snack meals and the connections between diet and health.

In April 2001 the National Food Survey was replaced by the Expenditure and Food Survey which was overseen jointly by the Office for National Statistics and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Raw data taken from the logbooks from 1983 to 2000 is held at the UK Data Archive