These data come from the DAFNE, 2005 (DAta Food NEtworking) initiative, which refers to a joint effort of 24 European countries to compare the food habits of their populations and monitor time trends in food availability, through the creation of a food databank. DAFNE has financially been supported by the European Commission.

The DAFNE databank is based on information collected in the context of household budget surveys (HBS). HBS are periodically conducted by the National Statistical Offices of most European countries in country-representative samples of households. As the methodology applied is reasonably uniform, it is possible to make between-countries comparisons based on the HSB data. As can be seen in the figure, for some countries the last available data are very old.

There are indicators on the ECHI shortlist which are related to food consumption. These are the indicators fruit and vegetable consumption/availability. Data on actual fruit and vegetable consumption will provide a more precise insight into dietary patterns than the budgetary information from HBS. However, such data are currently not available at European level. For more information on the ECHI definitions for this indicator, see the ECHI indicator documentation sheet.