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Abstract
The series currently used to estimate food expenditures yield incomplete and often conflicting data. The new series described here is more comprehensive. Called the total expenditures series, it reports total U.S. food sales by all retailers of food consumed both on- and off-premises. The series also includes food provided to military personnel, and food served in hospitals, institutions, and schools, where separate sales figures for food are unavailable. The series separates the total figures by different types of sellers and different food categories and provides estimates of total U.S. food expenditures between 1954 and 1978.