Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Statistics Divisions: Registered Files, National Food Survey (NFS Series)

The National Food Survey (NFS) was a continuous survey which began in 1942 when the usefulness of such work in constructing and monitoring an adequate diet in conditions of extreme shortage became apparent. The purpose of the NFS was to provide data which could be used in attempting to support the national diet provided via the rationing system. Its title was maintained for the sporadic surveys commissioned after the war. In 1948 the National Food Survey Committee was set up to supervise the NFS and any other food surveys and to facilitate the application of their findings in a national context.

By 1951 it was decided that a complete national survey, co-ordinated by the Ministry of Food, should be carried out on an annual basis with agreed definitions covering food items included, 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. 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.

Although quarterly figures for some foods were available from 1958, quarterly figures for the whole NFS were published from 1959. Quarterly NFS estimates were also collated from 1959 and made available to outside bodies for a fee. The NFS figures enabled MAFF to provide periodic quantitative and economic comparisons of foodstuffs and nutrient intake within the NFS itself and against figures provided by other surveys.