Where's the rice and beans that ‘were’ here? Industrialized foods consumed by Brazilian families

Abstract

Eating practices are important determinants in the health conditions of people in all age groups. Therefore, the objective is to identify characteristics of food consumption by Brazilian families. To achieve the proposed objective, the Family Budget Survey (POF) carried out in the years 2002/2003 and 2008/2009 will be used. Data on the following groups were analyzed: cereals and legumes and prepared foods and industrial mixtures, in which variations by region were assessed. In view of this, the changes observed in the dietary pattern of the Brazilian population, detected during the two surveys, proved to be similar and include: 1) significant reduction in the consumption of cereals and legumes in all states and 2) increased consumption of prepared foods and industrial mixtures. The biggest changes observed in relation to the reduction in the consumption of cereals and legumes, were in the Southeast region (48.13 Kg / year per capita to 35.65 Kg / year) then, the Northeast (52.35 Kg to 43.58 Kg). Regarding the consumption of prepared foods and industrial mixtures, the greatest increase was observed in the Midwest region (1.73 kg to 3.18 kg) followed by the north (1.87 kg to 3.11 kg). These results are in line with the study by Pereira (2014), in which there is a percentage reduction in expenses with rice and beans, foods that have always been present at the table of all social classes and in the studies carried out by Bezerra et al., (2013), where according to the author there is a relevant increase in the participation of ready-to-eat industrialized foods in the Brazilian diet, which are probably consumed in substitution for more traditional items, such as rice and beans. Therefore, the eating habits of the Brazilian population are changing.