Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Policy Research Brief 24

These inventories are typically conducted at the city level, with the goal of generating valid data without statistical sampling, resulting in quicker data collection and lower costs. Processed food inventories can provide additional information, including the names and contact information of companies selling in the city, the specific manufacturing and contact location of each product, ingredients in each product, and type of packaging. The inventories have been conducted in Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and Mali, with a focus on standardizing the methods across countries. The essential approach to conducting a processed food inventory is to visit different outlets within each retail outlet type, take photos of all labeling on all products in the defined processed food groups, and enter the data after the visit. Multiple outlets in each retail outlet type should be visited to ensure that products found predominantly in only one retail outlet type are recorded. Spatial considerations are also important, as most cities have marked spatial variability in income levels that can affect the numbers and types of processed foods available in stores and markets. To overcome concerns among store managers or owners, researchers can obtain a letter on institutional letterhead explaining the purpose of the work and the amount of time it might take, and request their cooperation. Depending on the country, an official from the Ministry of Commerce may need to accompany the researchers to explain the purpose of the research. Researchers should respect the owner's or manager's decision if they decline to cooperate, as there are no procedural complications introduced by any rejection. Specific data collection procedures include identifying the range of retail outlet types that exist in the city, deciding the processed food groups to inventory, and deciding the product types to inventory within each group. The ISIC (Rev 4) categories of processed foods are recommended, which include processed meats, processed fish, crustaceans, and molluscs, processed fruits and vegetables, manufactured dairy products, manufactured grain mill products, other manufactured foods, and animal feeds.