Abstract
The Food Consumption Score (FCS), a food frequency indicator developed by the World Food Programme (WFP) that aims to capture both diet quantity and quality of household food consumption, has been validated only against calorie intake in a limited number of rather small countries. This article examines the potential of FCS to capture variation in diet quantity and quality using the 2004/5 Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) conducted in the DRC. In addition to quantifying the strength of association between FCS and a series of benchmark variables, a set of nutrient-consistent regional adequacy levels is proposed as an alternative to the standard WFP’s cut-off in identifying food insecure households. We point out several key issues. First, for a country the size of the DRC, but possibly in other settings too, it is necessary to adopt a geographically disaggregated approach to account for regional diversity in food systems and resulting diets. Second, FCS can indeed capture qualitative aspects of food consumption in addition to quantitative ones. Third, increasing the number of food groups, removing their associated weights or truncating their food group score does not structurally improve FCS’s correlation with the benchmark variables. Fourth, the WFP’s threshold is only weakly consistent in terms of nutrient adequacy, marginally relevant to each of the country’s regions and markedly less sensitive and specific compared to the set of nutrient-consistent regional thresholds, which we propose based on the empirical relation between FCS and the mean adequacy ratio (MAR). Lastly, despite several methodological challenges, this work demonstrates the potential use of HCES to conduct this sort of food security validation exercises.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS) is a worldwide network and forum steered by FAO to improve the quality, availability, reliability and use of food composition data (see: www.fao.org/infoods).
Yet, the precise question on each recorded food item was clearly about effective consumption per day.
This cut-off corresponds to the dietary energy requirements of a 30-years old male with a body weight of 60 kg and a PAL of 1.75 (FAO 2001).
To avoid conceptual confusion with one of the ROC statistics mentioned above, we refer here to the principle of ‘relevancy’ instead ‘specificity’ – the latter being more commonly used in the poverty literature.
For three regions (i.e. urban Sud-Kivu, urban Kasai-Oriental and rural Katanga), the incidence rates were the same in at least two occurrences following the application of the three cut-offs.
References
Arndt, C., & Tarp, F. (Eds.). (2017). Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baumann, S. M., Webb, P., & Zeller, M. (2013). Validity of food consumption indicators in the Lao context: Moving toward cross-cultural standardization. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 34(1), 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1177/156482651303400112.
Becquey, E., Martin-Prevel, Y., Traissac, P., Dembele, B., Bambara, A., & Delpeuch, F. (2010). The household food insecurity access scale and an index-member dietary diversity score contribute valid and complementary information on household food insecurity in an urban west-African setting. The Journal of Nutrition, 140(12), 2233–2240. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.110.125716.
FAO. (2001). Human energy requirements; Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
FAO. (2016). FAO/INFOODS Databases. Food Composition Database for Biodiversity Version 3.0 – BioFoodComp3.0. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Fiedler, J. L., & Mwangi, D. M. (2016a). Improving household consumption and expenditure surveys’ food consumption metrics, developing a strategic approach to the unfinished agenda. IFPRI Discussion Paper. Washington, DC. http://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/130849/filename/131060.pdf
Fiedler, J. L., & Mwangi, D. M. (2016b). Using household consumption and expenditure surveys to make inferences about food consumption, nutrient intakes and nutrition status, How important is it to adjust for meal partakers? IFPRI Discussion Paper. Washington, DC. http://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/130855/filename/131066.pdf
Jones, A. D., Ngure, F. M., Pelto, G., & Young, S. L. (2013). What are we assessing when we measure food security? A compendium and review of current metrics. Advances in Nutrition, 4, 481–505. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.113.004119.
Kennedy, G., Berardo, A., Papavero, C., Horjus, P., Ballard, T., Dop, M. C., Delbaere, J., & Brouwer, I. D. (2010). Proxy measures of household food consumption for food security assessment and surveillance: comparison of the household dietary diversity and food consumption scores. Public Health Nutrition, 13(12), 2010–2018. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136898001000145X.
Leroy, J. L., Ruel, M., Frongillo, E. A., Harris, J., & Ballard, T. J. (2015). Measuring the food access dimension of food security: a critical review and mapping of indicators. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 36(2), 167–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0379572115587274.
Lovon, M., & Mathiassen, A. (2014). Are the World Food Programme’s food consumption groups a good proxy for energy deficiency? Food Security, 6(4), 461–470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-014-0367-z.
Lukmanji, Z., Hertzmark, E., Mlingi, N., Assey, V., Ndossi, G., & Fawzi, W. (2008). Tanzania food composition tables. Dar es Salaam: MUHAS, TFNC, HSPH.
Marivoet, W. (2010). Poverty Lines as Context Deflators in the DRC . A methodology to account for contextual differences. IOB Working Paper. Antwerp. https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/0aad0e/1829.pdf%0A. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Marivoet, W. (2016). Food Markets and Nutrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004–2005) (No. 01566). Washington, DC. http://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/130836/filename/131047.pdf. Accessed 15 Nov 2017.
Marivoet, W., & De Herdt, T. (2015). Poverty lines as context deflators: A method to account for regional diversity with application to the democratic Republic of Congo. Review of Income and Wealth, 61(2), 329–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12091.
Martin-Prevel, Y., Becquey, E., & Arimond, M. (2010). Food group diversity indicators derived from qualitative list-based questionnaire misreported some foods compared to same indicators derived from quantitative 24-hour recall in urban Burkina Faso. The Journal of Nutrition, 140(11), 2086S–2093S. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.110.123380.in.
Maxwell, D., Coates, J., & Vaitla, B. (2013). How do different indicators of household food security compare? Empirical evidence from Tigray. Medford: Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.
Murphy, S., Ruel, M., & Carriquiry, A. (2012). Should household consumption and expenditures surveys (HCES) be used for nutritional assessment and planning? Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 33(3 Suppl), S235–S241.
Romaniuk, A. (2011). Persistence of high fertility in tropical Africa: the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Population and Development Review, 37(1), 1–28.
Smith, L. C., Dupriez, O., & Troubat, N. (2014). Assessment of the reliability and relevance of the food data collected in National Household Consumption and expenditure surveys. IHSN Working Paper. Washington, DC. http://www.ihsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/IHSN_WP008_EN.pdf.
Stadlmayr, B., Charrondiere, R. U., Enujiugha, V. N., Bayili, R. G., Fagbohoun, E. G., Samb, B., et al. (2012). West African food composition table. Rome: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2698b/i2698b00.pdf.
Subramanian, S., & Deaton, A. (1996). The demand for food and calories. Journal of Political Economy, 104(1), 133–162. https://doi.org/10.1086/262020.
Ulimwengu, J., Roberts, C., & Randriamamonjy, J. (2012). Resource-rich yet malnourished, Analysis of the demand for food nutrients in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (no. 01154). IFPRI Discussion Paper. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/126768
WB. (2017). World development indicators 2017. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Weisell, R., & Dop, M. C. (2012). The adult male equivalent concept and its application to household consumption and expenditures surveys (HCES). Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 33(3 Suppl), S157–S162. https://doi.org/10.1177/15648265120333S203.
WFP. (2008). Food Consumption Analysis, Calculation and use of the food consumption score in food security analysis. Rome: World Food Programme, Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Branch (ODAV).
WFP. (2014). Fréquence et pronostic néonatal précoce de faible poids de naissance à Lubumbashi, République Démocratique du Congo. In Comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis (CFSVA), Democratic Republic of Congo. Data collected in (pp. 2011–2012). Rome: World Food Program, Department of Food Security Analysis (VAM). https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2016.23.232.8287.
WHO. (2007). Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition; Report of a Joint WHO/FAO/UNU Expert Consultation. Geneva: World Health Organization.
WHO/FAO. (2004). Vitamin and mineral requirements in human nutrition. Geneva/Rome: World Health Organization, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Wiesmann, D., Bassett, L., Benson, T., & Hoddinott, J. (2009). Validation of the world food Programme’s food consumption score and alternative indicators of household food security. IFPRI Discussion Paper. Washington, DC. http://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/32010/filename/32011.pdf
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Claudia AH POE, William OLANDER and Ollo SIB for providing material and data related to the Food Consumption Score methodology and to Jef LEROY, John ULIMWENGU and Josee RANDRIAMAMONJY for their insightful comments and assistance with data analysis. The authors also wish to thank the editor of this journal and two anonymous referees. Despite these acknowledgements, all errors remain the authors’ sole responsibility.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with any organisation or individual.
Appendix: FCS module used by WFP in the DRC
Appendix: FCS module used by WFP in the DRC
1.1 SCORE DE CONSOMMATION ALIMENTAIRE
Il s’agit ici des aliments consommés au cours des 7 derniers jours
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marivoet, W., Becquey, E. & Van Campenhout, B. How well does the Food Consumption Score capture diet quantity, quality and adequacy across regions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)?. Food Sec. 11, 1029–1049 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00958-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-019-00958-3