Dietary survey of infants and young children

Friday 27 June 2008

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is holding a meeting this month to offer potential contractors a chance to discuss in more detail the opportunity to carry out a survey of infants' and young children’s diets from the ages of 4 to 18 months old.

The event will be held at the Agency's London headquarters on 31 July at 2pm. FSA would like to invite representatives from all organisations capable and interested in undertaking part, if not all, of this type of survey, to attend.

The aim is to provide robust detailed information on the food and nutrients consumed by infants and young children after they have been weaned. This will support existing data on the dietary intake of the UK population. It is envisaged that the sample size is likely to be in the region of 1500-2000 subjects. The duration of the contract will be a maximum of two years, and we aim to start this work in April 2009 with a report delivered in 2011.

The meeting will be an opportunity to find out more about the requirements for the survey and will include a question and answer session. Attendance at the meeting will not be considered as a commitment to submit a proposal, nor will non-attendance present a barrier to potential bidders. The final full specification for the survey is expected to be issued in autumn 2008.

Applications from collaborative partnerships will be accepted.