The food product groups with the greatest deviations in 2020, compared to the consumption recommended by the Food Wheel, were, by excess, "meat, fish and eggs", up 11.9 percentage points, against 11.4 pp in 2016, while “fruits” were minus 4.7 pp, and “vegetables”, minus 8.6 pp, which compares with -6.5 pp and -7.2 pp in 2016, respectively, according to the Portuguese Food Balance (BAP) 2016-2020.

The meat supply increased 8.7 percent in this period, with each inhabitant consuming an average of 229.8 grams and 83.9 kilos per year daily, more than four times the total calories recommended by the Food Wheel for an average diet of 2,000 calories, states the BAP, which measures food consumption from the point of view of food supply,

Poultry continues to be consumed most with 38.4 percent, followed by pork meat (29.1 percent), although this has dropped slightly (-2.8 p.p.).

The supply of fish increased by 16.3 percent, reaching 62.7 grams a day per inhabitant, and eggs by 16.1 percent, with an average annual growth rate of around 4 percent. On average, each inhabitant ate 178 eggs a year, about half an egg a day.

The daily available amounts of fruits per inhabitant soared 27 percent, but the daily average consumption of 278.7 grams per inhabitant is still below the recommended amounts.

The consumption of vegetables remained relatively stable, with each inhabitant consuming an average of 285.8 grams per day (286.3 grams in 2012-2015).

According to the National Institute of Statistics, the consumption of oils and fats continued its downward trajectory, decreasing by 2.2 percent, as well as added sugars, which totalled 83.7 grams per day per person, decreasing by 3.2 percent.

The daily consumption of coffee, cocoa and chocolate has been rising for over ten years, reaching an average of 25.8 grams per inhabitant per day,

There was also an increase in the daily amounts available per capita of alcoholic beverages, reaching, on average, 110 litres per year per inhabitant, reflecting an increase of about 14 percent compared to 2012-2015, of which 47.9 l/inhabitant/year of wine and 57.6 of beer.

BAP concludes that “food availability for consumption continues to show an excessive and unbalanced food supply”, warning that “the average daily calorie intake available for consumption per inhabitant in this period was 4,075 calories”, higher than the 3,954 calories recorded in 2012 -2015.