Objective: This paper presents the reliability and validity of a "competing food choice" construct designed to assess whether factors related to consumption of less-healthful food were perceived to be barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption in college freshmen. Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey. Setting: An urban public college with a large, diverse student population. Participants: A convenience sample of 408 college freshmen. Variables Measured: A "competing food choice" construct and fruit and vegetable intake. Analyses: Factor analysis, Cronbach alpha, and correlation coefficients were used to determine the reliability and validity of the construct. Results: Three factors were produced from the factor analysis of the 11-item competing food choice construct: "competitive food" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.73), fruit and vegetable-related "time" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.67), and "quality" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.64). Construct validity assessments revealed significant inverse correlations between fruit and vegetable consumption and competitive food barriers (r = -0.15, P less than 0.01 current and r = -0.25, P less than 0.01 prior) and time barriers (r = -0.12, P less than 0.05 current and r = -0.10, P less than 0.05 prior). Conclusions and Implications: This "competing food choice" construct demonstrated satisfactory reliability and construct validity among college freshmen. (Contains 3 tables.)