The Illawarra Healthy Food Price Index 1. Development of the food basket.

Abstract

Objective: To define a basket of foods that could be used to monitor trends in the affordability of healthy food in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.

Design: A reference family of five was defined reflecting the population of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. A draft basket of foods was selected based on recommendations of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE), and using information on typical eating patterns from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey and data from local supermarket sales. Products were chosen to conform where possible to the National Heart Foundation guidelines for acceptability in the Pick the Tick food approval program. Seven-day menus were devised for each family member using the draft basket of foods and analysed for nutrient content compared to Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDI), and conformance with quantified targets related to Dietary Guidelines for Australians. The final quantities of foods to include in the Illawarra Healthy Food Basket (IHFB) were calculated from the menus, using estimates of edible portion from Australian food composition tables.

Main outcome measures: Nutritional adequacy of the food basket as determined by comparison with recommended numbers of serves from the AGHE, the RDIs for the reference family and other quantified targets related to the Dietary Guidelines for Australians.

Results: A final basket of 57 foods (44 core foods and 13 extra items) was defined that conformed with dietary guidelines, provided at least 95% of energy requirements, and exceeded the recommended intakes of protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and dietary fibre for all members of the reference family--with exception of zinc for the 65-year-old female (94% RDI). The sodium content of the food basket exceeded the recommended upper intakes by 27%. The 13 extra food items make up 6.2% of the total mass of food and contribute 19% of the total energy.

Conclusion: The IHFB represents a nutritionally adequate weekly basket of foods for a reference family of five that can be used to monitor changes in the affordability of healthy food.

Key words: food security, food prices, dietary guidelines, healthy food basket

(Nutr Diet 2004;61:200-7)

**********

Introduction

Limited income is known to be a barrier to obtaining the goods needed for optimal health (1) and low income families spend a greater proportion of their income on food than others (2). Food insecurity is strongly inversely associated with household and per capita income (3) and it has been estimated that the level of food insecurity as a consequence of limited resources is over 5% in the general Australian population (4). This problem has been recognised as a priority in the Eat Well Australia national nutrition strategy (5). A number of studies suggest that lower socioeconomic families have diets that are less likely to comply with dietary guidelines than others (6-9), although this is not a consistent finding (10-13).

Differences in food prices between standard and healthier alternative products are thought to influence consumer choices, especially among the socioeconomically disadvantaged (14,15). Several Australian studies have concluded that a healthy diet can be more expensive unless significant changes are made to usual food patterns (16-21). Similar findings have been reported in other countries (22-27). However there is currently little information about trends in the cost of a healthy diet over time in Australia.

Canada officially standardised a national food basket in 1995 that is used to monitor the cost of an adequate diet (28). It acts as a model for each province to adopt as a costing tool to reflect provincial differences in food availability, and many provinces update the costing annually (29,30). Australia has no similar program for monitoring the cost of healthy food. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) regularly monitors changes in the price of a basket of household goods, including food, to calculate the quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI), but the foods are selected to represent typical purchases of Australians in the capital cities only, rather than based on a basket of healthy food choices (31).

In Australia there is no single accepted definition of the foods required to make up a healthy diet. The core food groups (32) provide a number of models of possible food groupings to provide a diet that meets recommended dietary intakes (RDI) (33). Based on this, the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) offers two sets of recommendations on the number of serves from different food groups needed to create a diet consistent with the RDI and national dietary guidelines (34). Electronic searches of medical and nutrition databases, researching Australian nutrition journals and personal contact with key researchers found that a number of groups in Australia have defined baskets of foods for a variety of research purposes, which are summarised in Table 1.

For many of these baskets the method of selection of the foods is not clearly detailed and not all attempt to be either nutritionally complete or to conform to dietary guidelines. For over ten years the Kimberley Market Basket Survey has been used to monitor food prices in remote Western Australian Aboriginal communities, but it does not use a healthy selection of foods (35-38). Some of the baskets that have aimed to specify healthier food options were developed for cross-sectional surveys of the availability, accessibility and quality of food, particularly in remote areas, rather than to monitor price changes longitudinally (39-41). In 1996 a group of nutritionists from the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia began a project to develop a basket survey to monitor food quality, variety and cost in Aboriginal communities across all of northern Australia (42). This work became the foundation for the most comprehensively developed Australian food basket--the Queensland Healthy Food Access Basket (HFAB). It was piloted in north Queensland in early 1997 before a statewide survey in 1998, and repeated in 2000 and 2001, allowing trend analysis of the costs of healthy foods in that state (43-46). The basket used in the later Eat Well SA study (47) was based on the HFAB. These last two approaches have informed the methods adopted in this study.

The aim of this project was to establish an ongoing survey of the affordability of a basket of healthy food items in another region of Australia, and to publish a regular index showing changes in the cost of the basket over time, compared to changes in average income levels and available social welfare benefits. Part 1 describes the methods used to define the foods included in the food basket used for the Illawarra Healthy Food Price Index (IHFPI). The accompanying article (Part 2) describes the costing methods used and presents results from the first three years of monitoring.

The Illawarra region, centred on Wollongong, stretches along the NSW coast from Stanwell Park, just south of Sydney, to Gerroa, just north of Nowra. It was chosen for this monitoring project for two reasons. The Illawarra region is a socially diverse, non-metropolitan area, with a higher proportion of people who are unemployed or on low incomes (compared to the NSW average) and with high rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer (48). Secondly it is convenient for dietetics students at the University of Wollongong to undertake regular monitoring of food prices for the IHFPI.

Methods

Our aim was to define a weekly basket of foods that would be not only be healthy and nutritionally adequate but also socially acceptable for a family living in the Illawarra region of NSW. The process of the food basket development consisted of five stages:

* Definition of a reference family

* Selection of food groups and serves required for each family member

* Selection of a draft basket of foods

* Adjustment of foods selected to comply with nutritional guidelines

* Nutritional analysis of the basket and specification of quantities to meet nutritional targets.

Definition of a reference family

A reference family was chosen to reflect the age and sex characteristics of residents of the Illawarra region and include individuals with varying nutritional needs. Data from the ABS report on Population by Age and Sex (1999) was used to determine the age groups representing the greatest proportions of the Wollongong population (49).

The reference family consists of the following five individuals:

* 5-year-old male

* 15-year-old female

* 39-year-old male

* 39-year-old female

* 65-year-old female.

Selection of food groups and serves required for each family member

In the development stage of the food basket, the AGHE recommendations for both core food groups and 'extras', were used to generate a template for the basket (34). Using the food pattern of Example B in the AGHE (which incorporates a higher proportion of meat than Example A) the number of serves required for each food group by the adult male in the family were used as the minimum number of different food types chosen for the basket from each of the food groups. For example, according to the AGHE three to four serves of fruit are recommended for the adult males, so at least four different kinds of fruit were included in the basket to ensure variety.

Selection of draft basket of foods

Data from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) were utilised to ensure that foods selected for the basket would be representative of typical eating patterns in Australia. The food categories consumed by the highest percentage of individuals were chosen to make up each food sub-group in the basket (50). For example, four serves of fruit were specified by the AGHE, so the four sub-major fruit groups consumed by greatest proportion of adults aged 19 years or more in NSW were included (pome, tropical, citrus and other fruit). The method of selection of 'extra' foods was different to that of the core foods. Since no single category relates to these foods, they were selected as the most commonly consumed foods from the following categories used in the NNS: cereal-based products and dishes, milk products and dishes, sugar products and dishes, confectionery, fats and oils, savoury sauces and condiments, and non-alcoholic beverages. Tea and coffee were also included.

The supermarkets, Franklins and Woolworths, in central Wollongong, and Coles, at Figtree, provided data on product sales volume in their stores in August 2000 which were used to establish patterns of local food purchasing behaviour. This supermarket data were used to choose the specific foods for inclusion in the basket. For each sub-major food group selected from the NNS, the top selling food was chosen from the local supermarket data. For example, pome fruit was the most commonly consumed fruit variety recorded by the NNS and green apples were the best selling type of pome fruit, according to the local supermarket data. Green apples were thus included in the basket as a commonly purchased food in the Illawarra area.

Adjustment of foods selected to comply with nutritional guidelines

After the draft list of foods was developed they were checked against the National Heart Foundation's Pick the Tick Guidelines for Acceptability (51). The purpose at this stage was to select healthier alternative foods where possible, rather than ensuring the whole diet met current nutrition guidelines. However the AGHE does allow for 'extra' foods and recognises that these may contain high levels of fat, salt or sugar (34). The extra foods were therefore not expected to comply with the National Heart Foundation guidelines.

Foods failing to comply with the NHF guidelines were changed for a similar food with less fat, salt, or sugar, or more fibre. In some cases only specific brands were compliant with the NHF guidelines, so these were specified. For example cheddar cheese was specified as Bega or Bodalla reduced fat varieties. Other examples of changes included: substituting Paradise 'Lite' crispbreads instead of Sao crackers, and specifying 97% fat free ham. An exception to this process was made in the case of bread. Most major brands of bread on the supermarket shelf at the time contained more than the NHF recommended quantity of sodium (450 mg/100 g), albeit by only a small amount. However, bread is a significant food within the Australian diet and most people consume one of the major branded products. It was therefore decided to allow any of the available wholemeal breads to be included.

Nutritional analysis of basket and specification of quantities to meet nutritional targets

The final stage in the development of the basket involved several steps:

1. Constructing menu plans for each reference family member

2. Analysing the nutritional content of the menus and comparing them to targets

3. Adjusting food choices to comply with quantified dietary guidelines

4. Determining the final quantity of each food to be included in the basket.

A seven-day menu plan for each family member was constructed based on a number of nutrition education resources (52-55). These menus were then analysed using the FoodWorks nutrient analysis program (Xyris Software (Aust) Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Foodworks Nutrient Calculation Software, 1998) with the AusNut food composition databases (Australia New Zealand Food Authority, Canberra, AUSNUT--Australian Food and Nutrient Database, 1999). Height data for the reference family members were taken from the relevant mean values reported in the NNS (56). The aim was for the menus to meet 100% of the RDIs for all nutrients for each family member, with the exception of energy, for which meeting 95% was accepted. This is the energy level that was used in defining the HFAB (44) and the NT Nutritionist's Market Basket Survey (41). Using recommendations of the Better Health Commission (57), a daily maximum of 2300 mg was set for sodium (1730 mg for the five-year-old), and 30 g per day set as the target for dietary fibre for the adults. The 'Age Plus Five' recommendation was used to establish the fibre targets for the children (58).

In addition to the nutrient analysis, the menus were also assessed for compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Australians (59). To do this, a variety of quantified targets were developed for the food-related guidelines, as set out in Table 2, using relevant authoritative government recommendations where possible (guidelines related to body weight, alcohol and breastfeeding were omitted). For the first of the guidelines on eating a variety of nutritious foods, a scoring system devised by an Australian nutrition group was used, which counts the number of different food types consumed per week from a list of 53 possible biological sources (60,61).

When the analyses revealed there were inadequacies in the nutritional profile of the foods selected for the draft basket, foods were deleted, substituted or added. Examples of these changes included specification of reduced salt varieties of baked beans and tuna packed in water, exclusion of full cream milk, sour cream and potato chips (in order to meet saturated fat targets), specification of Spicy Fruit Rolls instead of family assorted biscuits (because of higher levels of fibre and less salt), substitution of whole frozen chicken for BBQ chicken, and addition of more canola oil and margarine to ensure energy levels were adequate.

Lastly some further adjustments to the food choices were made to reduce the likely cost and ensure availability and acceptability, without compromising the nutritional content: frozen crumbed fish fillets were substituted for perch, canned peaches replaced mandarins, and additional sugar was included for use with tea and coffee.

The nutrient analysis of the menus was carried out using the edible portion components of the food only, assuming there was no food waste when consumed. Once the final amounts of food were established from the menu analysis, the total quantities that would be required to be purchased for the basket were calculated using estimates of edible portions contained in Australian food tables (62). For example, the quantity of avocado included in the basket to satisfy the nutritional targets was 160 g. Since the estimated edible portion of an avocado is 72%, the amount specified to be purchased to calculate the IHFBI was 160/0.72 = 220 g.

Results

The final 57 foods and the quantities defined for the IHFB are given in Table 3, organised by the food groups used in the AGHE. Some of the items are branded products but most are not. There are 13 food items included that are classified as extra foods in the AGHE; making up 6.2% of the total mass of food and contributing 19% of the total energy (almost two-thirds of this from the canola margarine and oil, ice cream and chocolate).

The foods in the IHFB enable all the recommended serves from the core food groups of the AGHE for the reference family to be provided over a one-week period, with a food variety score of 37 out of possible maximum of 53. Some of the biological food categories that are not represented in the basket include: shellfish, crustaceans, offal, game, peppers, rye and berries. The total energy content of the basket was 318MJ, with a macronutrient profile of 20%E protein, 28%E fat and 52%E carbohydrate. Table 4 shows that analysis of the seven-day menus found that 100% of nutrient requirements could be met for each family member with the exceptions of sodium and zinc. For sodium, the maximum recommendations were exceeded for all family members--except the 65-year-old female--by up to 66% (or 1522mg per day). Zinc was adequate for most family members but was slightly marginal for the 65-year-old female (94% RDI). The saturated fat targets were also all met, except for the 5-year-old (11.8% of energy from saturated fat).

Detailed instructions were developed for the costing of the basket, to guide surveyors about which products to choose. Part 2 contains further details on the costing procedure (63).

Discussion

The choice of a reference family of five individuals used for this study is somewhat arbitrary. Other baskets have been based on notional reference families of four, five or six individuals, sometimes including a child in the eight to 11 years age group (44,47). This makes direct comparisons between baskets difficult. Although there are the same number of foods in the IHFB as the SA basket, only 38 of the items are the same (47). Some of the significant differences are less use of canned foods in the IHFB than in the SA basket (which may have been because of the rural focus of that study, where access to fresh produce can be more difficult) and the inclusion of items such as tea, coffee, tomato paste, peanut butter, Vegemite and Milo in the IHFB.

The menu analysis shows that the IHFB is nutritionally adequate for the reference family, although it is acknowledged that the assumption of no waste is a limitation. The sodium target was exceeded despite the use of some no added salt products where possible. Sodium is present in many staple foods such as bread, breakfast cereals and cheese. It has been estimated that just 6% of men and 36% of women in Australia meet the current targets and that the mean intake for adult males is 70% above the target of 100mmol/day and 18% above for females (64). The values for the foods in the IHFB (127% of target sodium overall) are comparable to this and to the values in other food baskets: 130% in the SA basket (47) and 239% in the HFAB (44). The slightly high proportion of saturated fat for the 5-year-old boy (11.8%E) provided by the basket could possibly be overcome by more judicious menu planning. The AGHE, which was used as the basis of the basket plans, acknowledges that the proportions of food specified for five- to 14-year-olds may provide too much saturated fat (34).

Since the development of the IHFB new editions of the dietary guidelines for Australian adults and children have been released (65,66). The new guidelines no longer have specific recommendations about calcium and iron intake, but now support including lean meat or alternatives and reduced fat varieties of dairy products. The specifications of foods in the IHFB conform to both of these recommendations. Despite the limited number of foods in the basket it rated well on food variety with a score of 37 out of 53. It has been suggested that a score of less than 20 can be regarded as poor and greater than 30 as very good (67). There is evidence that people whose diets have poor scores using this rating system are at greater risk of disease (60,68).

Inevitably the final selection of foods included in the basket is still somewhat arbitrary, reflecting the individual choices of the researchers. It was decided to include some extra foods as treats (e.g. cake, chocolate and soft drink), in order to construct a basket that acknowledges the place of such foods in the AGHE. Basing the food choices on NNS and supermarket data, and including the extra items, is likely to make the basket more socially acceptable than one designed solely for maximal nutritional content, but the final foods included cannot reflect the choices of all consumers. Some of the choices within the core foods were based on a desire to include a mix of basic and more exotic food choices (e.g. including kiwi fruit), which also adds some arbitrary component of choice. However this basket is not being suggested as a healthy diet plan for use by all Australians; if it were, there would be a need to continually review and update the basket contents to incorporate new science and recommendations. Ideally too, a nutritious diet would contain a greater variety of foods than those in this basket; the number of foods was deliberately limited in this model for research convenience. The IHFB is designed as a modelling tool to enable the measurement of trends in costs over time.

For our purposes here, the 'healthy' basket was defined as one that met recommended nutrient requirements and was consistent with the recommendations in the AGHE and the dietary guidelines. Like other baskets it includes some limited snack foods like biscuits, cake and chocolate as extras. There are more of these extra foods in the IFHB than the Queensland HFAB, but a similar number to the SA and Tasmanian baskets (39,47). However, the IHFB does not include any alcoholic beverages, although these typically contribute more than 10% of the energy in the Australian adult diet (65). The basket contains a high proportion of fresh products along with well known branded products that are likely to be available in the future to allow trends to be monitored over time.

Table 1. Selected Australian food baskets

Name                 Year        Authors            Purpose

Food Price Index     Quarterly   Australian Bureau  Part of national
                     since 1960  of Statistics      Consumer Price Index
                                 (69)               measuring changes in
                                                    prices of consumer
                                                    goods
Kimberley Market     1985        Sullivan et al.    To help determine
Basket                           (35)               the cost to
                                                    Aboriginal people in
                                                    the Kimberley of
                                                    basic food items
Food Cent$           1997        Foley et al. (16)  Basis for an
                                                    education tool about
                                                    low cost healthy
                                                    eating
Northern Territory   1997        Price et al.       To measure quality,
Nutritionist's                   (41, 42, 72)       variety and cost of
Market Basket                                       healthy foods in
Survey                                              remote Aboriginal
                                                    community stores in
                                                    NT
Queensland Health    1997        Leonard et al.     To measure access to
Food Access Basket               (43-46)            healthy food across
(HFAB)                                              Queensland and
                                                    trends over time
Tasmanian Food       1997        Beaumont (39)      To investigate how
Price, Availability                                 price, availability
and Quality Survey                                  and quality of food
                                                    vary across Tasmania
Indicative Budget    1998        Saunders et al.    To calculate the
Standards for                    (74)               minimum cost of an
Australia                                           adequate standard of
                                                    living for social
                                                    policy planning
Food Supply in       2000        Meedeniya et al.   To examine
Rural South                      (47)               variations in cost,
Australia                                           quality and variety
                                                    of food supply
                                                    across SA
Price Surveys        2000        Australian         To monitor price
                                 Competition and    changes during the
                                 Consumer           introduction of the
                                 Commission (75)    new tax system
Supermarket Price    2003        Australian         Comparison of
Survey                           Consumers          grocery prices in
                                 Association (76)   supermarkets
                                                    nationally

                                              Reference
Name                 Basis of food selection  family     Foods

Food Price Index     Foods selected from the  No         Variable number
                     Household Expenditure               in 29
                     Survey (2)                          expenditure
                                                         classes (a)
Kimberley Market     The most popular food    2 adults   39
Basket               items purchased at       and 3      fresh and
                     community stores in the  children   packaged
                     Kimberley
Food Cent$           Five food groups (70)    2 adults   53
                     Healthy Diet Pyramid     and 2      mostly fresh
                     (71)                     children   or unprocessed
                                                         foods
Northern Territory   Core food groups (32)    3 adults   30
Nutritionist's                                and 3      fresh and
Market Basket                                 children   packaged
Survey
Queensland Health    Core food groups (32)    3 adults   44
Food Access Basket   Apparent consumption     and 3      fresh and
(HFAB)               data (73) to meet 70%    children   packaged
                     nutritional and 95%
                     energy requirements
Tasmanian Food       Not stated. Wide         No         122
Price, Availability  representative                      fresh and
and Quality Survey   selection in 29                     packaged
                     categories. Includes 31
                     regular foods matched
                     with healthier
                     alternatives
Indicative Budget    NNS (50) Core food       No         139
Standards for        groups (32) RDIs (33)               including
Australia                                                alcohol and
                                                         take away
Food Supply in       Australian Guide to      3 adults   57
Rural South          Healthy Eating (34)      and 3      fresh and
Australia                                     children   packaged
Price Surveys        Commonly purchased       No         88 food
                     goods                               subclasses--
                                                         fresh and
                                                         processed
Supermarket Price    Convenience sample of    No         25
Survey               popular brands                      packaged
                                                         foods only

(a) Data on exact number of items not available. There are approximately
1000 items costed in the full CPI and food is weighted as 18% of the CPI
(69).

Table 2. Quantified targets defined to assess compliance of menus with
dietary guidelines (59)

Guideline                      Criteria

Enjoy a wide variety of        Food variety score (60, 67)
nutritious foods
Eat plenty of breads and       Australian Guide to Healthy
cereals (preferably            Eating (34)
wholegrain), vegetables
(including legumes) and
fruits
Eat a diet low in fat and      NHMRC (77, 78)
in particular saturated fat
Eat only a moderate amount of  Better Health Commission
sugars and foods containing    recommendations (57)
added sugars
Choose low salt foods and use  Better Health Commission
salt sparingly                 recommendations (57)
Eat foods containing calcium   Recommended Dietary Intakes (33)
Eat foods containing iron      Recommended Dietary Intakes (33)

Guideline                      Targets

Enjoy a wide variety of        At least 30 different biological food
nutritious foods               types per week
Eat plenty of breads and       Adults
cereals (preferably            5-7 serves breads and cereals:
wholegrain), vegetables        6-8 serves vegetables and legumes
(including legumes) and        3-4 serves fruit
fruits
Eat a diet low in fat and               Adults  Children (5-14)
in particular saturated fat    Fat      <30%E   <35%E
                               Sat fat  <10%E   <10%E
Eat only a moderate amount of  Refined sugars no more than 12%E
sugars and foods containing
added sugars
Choose low salt foods and use  5-year-old:         460-1730 mg sodium
salt sparingly                 Others:             920-2300 mg sodium
Eat foods containing calcium   Males               800 mg
                               Females (39y)       800 mg
                               Females (15, 65y)  1000 mg
Eat foods containing iron      Male (5y)             6-8 mg
                               Female (15y)         10-13 mg
                               Male (39y)            7 mg
                               Female (39y)         12-16 mg
                               Female (65y)          5-7 mg

Table 3. Final version of the Illawarra Healthy Food Basket

Food item                         Quantity

Breads and cereals
Crispbread (Paradise Lites)        500 g
Crumpets                          1100 g
Fruit toast                       1300 g
Quick cooking oats                 500 g
Sultana bran                       200 g
Weetbix (or equivalent)            465 g
White hamburger buns               450 g
White rice (long grain)            830 g
White spaghetti                    600 g
Wholemeal bread                      3.40 kg

Milk, yoghurt, cheese
Cheddar cheese, reduced fat        610 g
Low fat vanilla yoghurt              4.40 kg
Reduced fat milk                    11.75 L

Vegetables and legumes
Avocado                            220 g
Broccoli                           640 g
Brown onions                         1.30 kg
Carrots                              1.86 kg
Lettuce                            340 g
Mushrooms                          900 g
Potatoes                             2.50 kg
Tomatoes                             3.00 kg
Zucchini                           750 g
Baked beans, salt reduced         1100 g
Frozen mixed vegetables            840 g
Frozen peas                        300 g
Canned tomatoes, no added salt     990 g
Canned corn kernels                350 g
Tomato paste, no added salt        130 g

Fruit
Apples                               1.10 kg
Bananas                              6.20 kg
Kiwi fruit                         800 g
Oranges                              1.95 kg
Canned peaches                       0.96 kg
Orange juice, no added sugar         5.75 L

Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts
Beef mince (extra lean)            750 g
Leg of lamb                        820 g
Light leg ham, sliced              400 g
Pork chops, forequarter            930 g
Rump steak (lean)                  650 g
Frozen fish, crumbed, baked        520 g
Tinned tuna, in spring water       300 g
Whole frozen chicken                 1.20 kg
Eggs                               500 g
Peanut butter, no added salt       200 g

Extra foods
Cake (plain or Madeira)            300 g
Canola margarine                   700 g
Canola oil                         350 g
Cola soft drink                      1 L
Chocolate, milk                    100 g
Coffee, instant                     72 g
Honey                               90 g
Low fat ice cream (vanilla)        500 g
Milo                               100 g
Spicy fruit rolls                  280 g
Tea                                 63 tea bags
Vegemite                           150 g
White sugar                        450 g

Table 4. Percent of nutrient targets (a) provided by the seven-day menus
using only foods from the Illawarra Healthy Food Basket

                5y male  15y female  39y male  39y female  65y female

Energy           96       96          97         98          95
Protein         474      232         248        225         199
Thiamin         222      219         202        225         232
Riboflavin      271      253         212        251         257
Niacin          301      301         323        330         339
Vitamin C       464      749         666        579         637
Vitamin A       388      209         246        200         177
Sodium          134 (b)  119 (b)     166 (b)    120 (b)      99
Potassium       207      217         281        211         194
Magnesium       267      159         165        147         128
Calcium         166      133         188        156         110
Phosphorus      237      159         241        189         166
Iron            176      147         274        125         251
Zinc            177      108         147        108          94 (b)
Dietary fibre   240      132         150        113         100

(a) Target is either RDI (33) or Better Health Commission target (57).
(b) Fails to meet target.

Acknowledgments

Our thanks to the supermarket managers of the Woolworths and Franklins in Wollongong and Coles in Figtree for providing product sales information. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments have helped improve this manuscript.

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Department of Biomedical Science, University of Wollongong, NSW

P. Williams, BSc (Hons), DipNutrDiet, MHP, PhD, APD. Senior Lecturer 

M. Reid, BNutrDiet, Student dietitian 

K. Shaw, BNutrDiet, Student dietitian

Correspondence: P. Williams, Department of Biomedical Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522

Email: [e-mail]

P. Williams planned the study and drafted the paper. M. Reid planned the menus and carried out the dietary analyses. K. Shaw collected demographic and food consumption data and developed the draft food basket.