Assessing and Improving the Quality of Food Composition Databases for Nutrition and Health Applications in Europe: The Contribution of EuroFIR

Abstract

Food composition databases (FCDBs) form an integral part of nutrition and health research, patient treatment, manufacturing processes, and consumer information. FCDBs have traditionally been compiled at a national level; therefore, until recently, there was limited standardization of procedures across different data sets. Digital technologies now allow FCDB users to access a variety of information from different sources, which has emphasized the need for greater harmonization. The European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) Network of Excellence and Nexus projects (2005–2013) has been instrumental in addressing differences in FCDBs and in producing standardized protocols and quality schemes to compile and manage them. A formal, recognized European standard for food composition data has been prepared, which will further assist in the production of comparable data. Quality schemes need to address both the composition data, plus the methods of sampling, analysis, and calculation, and the documentation of processes. The EuroFIR data exchange platform provides a wealth of resources for composition compilers and end users and continues to develop new and innovative tools and methodologies. EuroFIR also is working in collaboration with the European Food Safety Authority, and as a partner in several European projects. Through such collaborations, EuroFIR will continue to develop FCDB harmonization and to use new technologies to ensure sustainable future initiatives in the food composition activities that underpin food and health research in Europe.

Qualitative Analysis of Traditional Italian Dishes: FTIR Approach

“…Nine traditional Italian recipes, including First courses, One-dish meals, Side courses, and Desserts, as shown in Table 1, were selected and experimentally prepared [10,33] in a dedicated lab-kitchen following a validated and standardized protocol developed within the EuroFIR Network [34]. .…”

Bridging the food security gap: an information‐led approach to connect dietary nutrition, food composition and crop production

“…This has led to a recognition that the lack of cultivar‐specific nutritional composition data presents a significant obstacle to wider adoption of crop varieties with improved nutritional value . Food compositional tables and databases (FCT/FCDB) are currently the primary sources of information for formulating guidelines for food intake, such as recommended daily allowances (RDA) and dietary reference intake (DRI), as well as for food labeling and marketing . However, in FCT/FCDB, each nutritional component is presented as a single numerical concentration that represents a mean (not median) value.…”

Identification of Requirements for Computer-Supported Matching of Food Consumption Data with Food Composition Data

“…The fundamental aim of EuroFIR has been the harmonisation and the standardisation of the work on food composition data in Europe. It has supported the development of the European standard for food composition data [13], which facilitates access to and exchange of comparable, high quality food composition data for industry, regulators and researchers across Europe [14,15]. As for the food classification and coding system, the EuroFIR member countries use the LanguaL system that is a globally defined automated method for describing, capturing and retrieving food information (for more details please refer to Section 2.1.2), with the exception of the German Nutrient Database [16]; and since 2012, some member countries have adopted the FoodEx system as well.…”