Smart and Technology Assisted Methods to Collect Data about Diet

Dear Colleagues,

Studying consumer food behavior has traditionally been dependent on self-reported and labor-intensive methods. Such methods are costly and often delay the data processing, and thus the dissemination of results.

As a consequence, technology-assisted methods that can decrease the need for the involvement of both respondents and data collectors have grown in popularity. Panel data based on receipts with barcode scanning is one way of partly automating the process, and have been used by both research and market intelligence bureaus to study consumer grocery purchases. However, the digital age offers even faster means of gaining access to data on food choices and preferences. For instance, as an increasing amount of food purchases are done using bank and loyalty cards, there are now solutions available for converting such transactions into direct insight into food choice patterns and consumer food behavior.

At the same time, new technologies, such as computer vision and natural language processing, makes is possible to automatically recognize visually foods intended for consumption. New means of sharing, analyzing, and interconnecting, such as Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence, open up new avenues for scientists and researchers that want to understand consumer food and dietary behavior.

This Special Issue looks further into the new tools and technologies that are emerging in the wake of the digital age. It invites original papers dealing with the application of new technologies in the field of consumer and dietary studies.

Prof. Bent Egberg Mikkelsen
Mr. Mukti Ram Chapagain
Prof. Anders Kofod Petersen
Prof. Mikael Fogelholm
Prof. Christophe Matthys
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• consumer food behavior
• technology-assisted methods
• digital age
• food choice
• Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Artificial Intelligence