DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gb5mkkwq0
title: 2020 NRAUS Australia New Zealand Food Category Cost Dataset

description: This Australian and New Zealand food category cost dataset was created to
 inform diet and economic modelling for low and medium socioeconomic
 households in Australia and New Zealand. The dataset was created according
 to the INFORMAS protocol, which details the methods to systematically and
 consistently collect and analyse information on the price of foods, meals
 and affordability of diets in different countries globally. Food
 categories were informed by the Food Standards Australian New Zealand
 (FSANZ) AUSNUT (AUStralian Food and NUTrient Database) 2011-13 database,
 with additional food categories created to account for frequently consumed
 and culturally important foods.
description: The dataset was created according to the INFORMAS protocol [1],
 which detailed the methods to collect and analyse information
 systematically and consistently on the price of foods, meals, and
 affordability of diets in different countries globally.
 Cost data were collected from four supermarkets in each country:
 Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, two (Coles Merrylands and
 Woolworths Auburn) were located in a low and two (Coles Zetland and
 Woolworths Burwood) were located in a medium metropolitan socioeconomic
 area in New South Wales from 7-11<sup>th</sup> December 2020.
  In New Zealand, two (Countdown Hamilton Central and Pak ‘n Save Hamilton
 Lake) were located in a low and two (Countdown Rototuna North and Pak ‘n
 Save Rosa Birch Park) in a medium socioeconomic area in the North Island,
 from 16-18<sup>th</sup> December 2020.
 Locations in Australia were selected based on the Australian
 Bureau of Statistics Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and
 Disadvantage (IRSAD) [2]. The index ranks areas from most disadvantaged to
 most advantaged using a scale of 1 to 10. IRSAD quintile 1 was chosen to
 represent low socio-economic status and quintile 3 for medium SES
 socio-economic status. Locations in New Zealand were chosen using the 2018
 NZ Index of Deprivation and statistical area 2 boundaries [3].  Low
 socio-economic areas were defined by deciles 8-10 and medium
 socio-economic areas by deciles 4-6. The supermarket locations were chosen
 according to accessibility to researchers. Data were collected by five
 trained researchers with qualifications in nutrition and dietetics and/or
 nutrition science. All foods were aggregated into a
 reduced number of food categories informed by the Food Standards
 Australian New Zealand (FSANZ) AUSNUT (AUStralian Food and NUTrient
 Database) 2011-13 database, with additional food categories created to
 account for frequently consumed and culturally important foods. Nutrient
 data for each food category can therefore be linked to the Australian Food
 and Nutrient (AUSNUT) 2011-13 database [4] and NZ Food Composition
 Database (NZFCDB) [5] using the 8-digit codes provided for Australia and
 New Zealand, respectively. Data were collected for
 three representative foods within each food category, based on criteria
 used in the INFORMAS protocol: (i) the lowest non-discounted price was
 chosen from the most commonly available product size, (ii) the produce was
 available nationally, (iii) fresh produce of poor quality was omitted. One
 sample was collected per representative food product per store, leading to
 a total of 12 food price samples for each food category. The exception was
 for the ‘breakfast cereal, unfortified, sugars ≤15g/100g’ food category in
 the NZ dataset, which included only four food price samples because only
 one representative product per supermarket was identified.
 Variables in this dataset include: (i) food category and
 description, (ii) brand and name of representative food, (iii) product
 size, (iv) cost per product, and (v) 8-digit code to link product to
 nutrient composition data (AUSNUT and NZFCDB).
 <b>References</b> 
 Vandevijvere, S.; Mackay, S.; Waterlander, W. INFORMAS Protocol:
 Food Prices Module [Internet]. Available online: https://auckland.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/INFORMAS_Protocol_Food_Prices_Module/5627440/1 (accessed on 25 October). 2071.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia - Stories from the Census, 2016  Available online: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2071.0~2016~Main%20Features~Socio-Economic%20Advantage%20and%20Disadvantage~123 (accessed on 10 December). Socioeconomic Deprivation Indexes: NZDep and NZiDep, Department of Public Health. Available online: https://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/departments/publichealth/research/hirp/otago020194.html#2018 (accessed on 10 December) AUSNUT 2011-2013 food nutrient database. Available online: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/ausnut/ausnutdatafiles/Pages/foodnutrient.aspx (accessed on 15  November). NZ Food Composition Data. Available online: https://www.foodcomposition.co.nz/ (accessed on 10<sup> </sup>December)
description: The uploaded data includes an Excel spreadsheet where a separate
 worksheet is provided for the Australian food price database and New
 Zealand food price database, respectively. All cost data are presented to
 two decimal points, and the mean and standard deviation of each food
 category is presented. For some representative foods in NZ, the only NFCDB
 food code available was for a cooked product, whereas the product is
 purchased raw and cooked prior to eating, undergoing a change in weight
 between the raw and cooked versions. In these cases, a conversion factor
 was used to account for the weight difference between the raw and cooked
 versions, to ensure that nutrient information (on accessing from the
 NZFCDB) was accurate. This conversion factor was developed based on the
 weight differences between the cooked and raw versions, and checked for
 accuracy by comparing quantities of key nutrients in the cooked vs raw
 versions of the product.