To calculate a cost per calorie for each food item, we assign caloric intake values to the quantities purchased, as reported in POF. The TBCA contains the caloric information for a myriad of items, but there are no common food item identifiers with the POF 2017/18 that would allow directly matching the information across the two data sources. Thus, we use the food item description in POF to look up corresponding items and calorie intake per kilogram (kg) in TBCA. Given the large amount of individual food items in POF (4,549) and the fact that their contribution to total average consumption differs, we opted for a simplified approach to assign calorie intake values from TBCA to food consumption in POF. This approach can be divided into two main steps. In the first step, we identify “key food items” in the Brazilian consumption basket. These items are identified as having the highest share in average total expenditures on food consumed at home. We rank all food items in POF 2017/18 and find 350 food items that together account for about three-quarters (73.3 percent) of average total expenditures on food consumed at home and about half (49.2 percent) of all expenditures on food. For each of these food items we obtain calorie intake values from TBCA that are based on the descriptions of the food item in POF and TBCA. TBCA has calorie intake values for different preparation forms of the food item. We use calorie intake for the raw state, given that it is not clear how households will prepare the purchased food and that they buy it in the raw form.<sup>9</sup> A second step is applied in order to increase the list of food items that have calorie intake assigned to them—and thus contribute to the cost per calorie estimation. In this step, we create food groups by aggregating POF’s original 7-digit item code to a 5-digit item code. Based on this, we impute calorie intake to items that were not mapped to calorie intake in step 1. For instance, different types of rice ( _arroz hibrido_ , _arroz bica corrida_ , _arroz quirera_ ) were not found in the TBCA, but by creating a 5-digit aggregation, we can assign them to the same group as _arroz polido,_ for which we do have a caloric intake estimate. For all of these types we assign the average value of calorie intake for rice at this 5-digit item code that had calories assigned from TBCA in step 1 (in this case, _arroz polido_ ). After this step, we have raw calorie intake values for 1,413 items, which account for 86.6 percent of average total expenditures on food consumed at home and 58.1 percent of all food expenditures.

Steps 1 and 2 are part of our preferred specification. In an alternative specification, we consider a third step to increase the number of items, and hence the proportion of expenditures, that have calorie intake assigned. In this step, we group food items into 117 different food groups, defined in IBGE (2020). We then assign items that did not have calorie intake assigned in steps 1 and 2 the average calorie intake of items of their food group that did have calorie intake assigned in either step 1 or 2. This yields 4,020 items 9 Beans, for instance, which are one of the most important food purchases and items in Brazil, have a raw calorie intake of 306 kcal per 100 g in TBCA (Feijão, carioca), while in the prepared form, TBCA assigns 71 kcal per 100 g, assuming a composition of 50 percent beans and 50 percent water to the meal. The weight of a food item when prepared, is however not equivalent to the weight when it is in its raw form. Beans for instance, or rice – another important staple in Brazil - absorb water and change in volume when cooked. We do not have conversion factors that would allow us to convert the prepared weight into the quantity in its raw form. Using kcal estimates in prepared form would also require strong assumptions about the way food was prepared before consumption. Working with the raw calorie intake we aim at assigning the potential calorie intake that could be obtained when prepared to a purchased food item. On the other hand, while non-edible parts of raw food items, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat with bones, could be leading to an underestimation of the cost per calorie, we believe this to be of minor concern. Among the top-10 items as a proportion of total average food expenditures, none have non-edible parts.

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