This study provides an alternative explanation for the unusual apparent decline in food
consumption in rural China after 2000. We find that it is mainly attributable to significant
measurement errors in the Chinese Rural Household Survey and the calculation of per capita
food consumption. In a household survey, total consumption for a household in a certain
period is often well recorded, and per capita consumption is obtained by dividing total
consumption by household size. Such a calculation of per capita food consumption is
vulnerable to a mismatch between food and mouths. Total consumption may be subject to
measurement errors caused primarily by food away from home (FAFH). Also, the household
size recorded in the survey is not necessarily the same as the number of mouths (consumption
household size), who consume the food recorded in the survey. Our results indicate that food
consumption in rural China is currently being underestimated by about 30%. Our results also
indicate that income elasticities of food consumption are greater than measured elasticities
based on the Rural Household Survey data.