The biology and ecology of the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hemiptera: Aleyroridae), is widely documented. However, so far there are not reports about the rate of consumption of this phytophagous. Therefore, the objective of this research was to measure the food consumption by the adult and immature instars of T. vaporariorum based on indirect methodologies found in the literature. The estimate of the food consumption rate by adults was conducted under laboratory conditions, using as experimental units plant beans two weeks old. The experiment consisted of two treatments: (T1) plants free from any phytophagous and (T2) plants subjected to infestation with T. vaporariorum, with 20 repetitions each treatment and replicated over time. In the case of the immature individuals, the experimental unit consisted of a bean cotyledon leaf infested with a population of immature individuals of each instar of whitefly, having five treatments (Instar I, II, III, IV and Control) each with 17 repetitions. Fresh weight of leaves was recorded daily. An average food consumption of 0.277 ± 0.0042 mg.day-1 was obtained for the adult. For ACTA BIOLOGICA COLOMBIANA http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/actabiol/index ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER