Croatian national food consumption survey on children from 3 months to 9 years of age

The National food consumption survey on children aged from three months to nine years of age in Croatia was implemented from 2017 to 2022. It is the first harmonized food consumption survey among children in Croatia following the EU Menu methodology designed by EFSA to collect comparable among countries data. Data were collected in all seasons and days of the week in order to cover seasonal and day‐to‐day variation in food consumption. In addition to food consumption, data on socio‐economic factors, anthropometry, health status, physical activity and food supplement consumption were also collected. Fieldwork was carried out by trained interviewers. Dietary intake was recorded through food diaries collected by participants and checked by the interviewers before being integrated in the specially designed NutriCro® software. During the first interview, data reported through other questionnaires were also entered by the interviewers in the database through the software. Prior to the main fieldwork, a pilot study was conducted from February to March 2019, which resulted in several adaptations of the tools used for data collection. Ultimately, 1820 children were included in the study with an overall response rate of 22.76%. Collected data provide insight into the nutrition of this most vulnerable population group, which is of paramount importance for national programs on food safety.