Excerpts from the Foreword: In cooperation with various segments of the fruit industry, the Department of Agriculture contracted in 1999 with the Industrial Surveys Company for monthly data that would show consumer purchases of specified fruit and fruit products. The data were to include information showing amounts bought, prices paid, average size of purchase, and percentage of households purchasing. Quarterly tabulations of these data by regions and types of outlet are released in separate reports. Less frequently, reports are issued which present buying practices by various family characteristics. This bulletin presents the results of an attempt to obtain the cooperation of a probability sample of 546 households in the New York metropolitan area, which is recognized as one of the most difficult areas in the United States with respect to obtaining a high rate of response in surveys.