The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is conducting this study to learn about the food and drinks U.S. households get (whether purchased or received for free), where they get them from, and what food and drinks cost in neighborhoods across the country. The USDA will use this information to design policies and programs to help meet the food needs of households in the United States.

Your household’s participation is vital to the success of the National Household Food Study. Since households are randomly chosen to represent themselves and others in the geographic region, choosing not to participate affects how your data represents you and other households like yours.

Yes. You may stop participating at any time, and there are no penalties for nonparticipation. In most cases, except where the response is required to conduct the study, you may leave the question blank if you do not feel comfortable answering or you do not know the answer.

If you receive a letter in the mail from the Census Bureau, the envelope contains the following information that will help you verify its legitimacy: U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Commerce logos with Jeffersonville, Indiana as the return address.

Email communications from the Census Bureau regarding the National Household Food Study will originate from census.foodstudy@census.gov. Text messages will be sent from (833) 972-2579.

You will complete all parts of the study using an electronic device. Completing the Food Log will be easiest and quickest using a smartphone. Currently, there is not a paper form available to complete and return by mail.

The Household Survey gathers information from the person in the household who is at least 17 years old and does most of the food shopping or meal planning and preparation. This person will tell us about who lives in the household, their characteristics, and their contact information. This person will also answer health, income, and work questions about themselves and anyone who is younger than 14 in the Household Survey. The Profile & Income Survey asks questions about health, income, and work and should be completed by household members who are at least 14 years old. In the Food Log, all household members who are at least 14 years old report the food and drinks they get, where they get them, and how much they cost. The person who completes the Household Survey will report food and drinks for anyone who is younger than 14 in their own food log. The Closing Survey is the final part of the study, which gathers information about the study experience from the person who completed the Household Survey.

The person who completes the Household Survey will earn an electronic gift card for $40 (which includes $5 for completing their own Profile & Income Survey questions within it), as well as an additional $15 for completing the Closing Survey. Each household member (or the person who reports on the household member’s behalf) will earn $5 for completing the Profile & Income Survey and at least $5 per day for completing the Food Log.

Each household member who completes at least one part of the study will receive an email with instructions on how to select and instantly receive an electronic gift card of their choice within one week of the final food log day.

Gift cards may be reportable as resources under SNAP and income under WIC. For this reason, receiving a gift card may affect your eligibility for these programs. If you have concerns about the gift card impacting eligibility, please contact your local SNAP or WIC agency.

The Household Survey takes about 45 minutes to do and will vary depending on how many people live in the household. Each household member’s Profile & Income Survey takes about 15 minutes to do. Each day, reporting food and drinks in the Food Log takes about 15 minutes per household member depending on the food and drinks that people got that day. The Closing Survey takes about 25 minutes to complete.

USDA’s Economic Research Service and Food and Nutrition Service sponsor the study (https://www.ers.usda.gov/foodaps). The research community refers to the study as the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS), while we refer to the study as the National Household Food Study during data collection. USDA is authorized to conduct the National Household Food Study under Title 7, Section 3171 of the United States Code. The U.S. Census Bureau is acting as the designated data collection agent. Qualtrics is the online reporting tool used to collect survey responses.

Yes. USDA and the U.S. Census Bureau are legally bound to keep all survey responses confidential. The Census Bureau is required by law to keep your information confidential and can use your responses for statistical purposes only (Title 13, U.S. Code, Section 9). Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through screening of the systems that transmit your data. Your National Household Food Study answers are combined with answers from all the other study households and all personally identifiable information about you or your household such as names, addresses, and contact information are removed from the data before it is shared with researchers. The Census Bureau will NOT ask you to provide your personal information via email. The Census Bureau will never ask for your full Social Security number, bank account number, or passwords.

Sometimes. Certain types of questions on related topics are grouped together and you may be able to use the Back button to return to a previously answered question within that group. Once you have moved to the next grouping, you may not be shown the Back button and can only select the Next button to continue. So please make sure what you enter is as accurate as it can be before you press the Next button.

No. USDA, the Census Bureau, and Qualtrics (the online reporting tool used to collect survey responses) will not use, share, or sell your contact information, including the email address you use to create a study account, or data that you provide during the National Household Food Study.

Please call our telephone operators at 1-844-421-2603 if you forgot your login credentials, have an issue logging in to the Household Survey with the User ID and Password provided to you, or have an issue logging in to the dashboard with your email address and the password you set to complete the Profile & Income Survey, Food Log, or Closing Survey. 

When logging into your dashboard account, four consecutive failed login attempts will result in a locked account, which will remain locked for 60 minutes.

When you go to sign back into your panelist account, you may see an option to "Sign in without a brand". This is the same thing as "Sign in". Brand options within Qualtrics (the online reporting tool) are not used for this study. Simply click "Sign in without a brand" to proceed to your panelist account.

Live operators from the U.S. Census Bureau are available to help answer any questions, 7 days a week from 9:00am-9:00pm local time, at 1-844-421-2603. You may also email census.foodstudy@census.gov for assistance. The participant website (census.gov/help/foodstudy) has training videos that explain how to complete each part of the study. These training videos are also available to access throughout the online study.