IUNS/INFOODS Task Force

Activity report, 2006-2007

Barbara Burlingame, Chair

30 July 2007

INFOODS, The International Network of Food Data Systems

The main activities of INFOODS during the past two years have been assistance with the 6th and 7th International Food Data Conference, publication of the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, publication of the French and Spanish versions of the essential food composition text book, training, standards development in data interchange and food component identification, and assistance to national and regional food composition tables and databases.

1.  International Food Data Conference

INFOODS assisted with the arrangements for the 6th International Food Data Conference, held in Pretoria, South Africa, 14-16 September 2005, as a satellite to the 18th International Congress of Nutrition. Professor Hettie Schonfeldt was the convenor, and the theme selected was Food Composition Data and the Nutrition Dilemma.  In total 71 participants took part in the conference, with 44 oral presentations and 34 posters. FAO provided support for participants from developing countries.

INFOODS is assisting currently with the arrangements for the 7th International Food Data Conferences. The co-convenors will be Elizabete Wenzel Menezes and Franco M. Lajolo, University of Sao Paulo (USP), and the selected is Food Composition and Biodiversity. The 7th IFDC will be held in São Paulo, Brazil, 22-24 October 2007.  In association with this Conference, FAO will hold a pre-conference Expert Consultation on Nutrition Indicators for Biodiversity.  FAO is supporting the participation of delegates from developing countries, and the Indicator Expert Consultation is being supported by FAO and GEF (Global Environment Facility).

2.  The Journal of Food Composition and Analysis

The  Journal of Food Composition and Analysis (JFCA), the official journal of INFOODS,  is devoted to all scientific aspects of the composition of human foods, and emphasizes new methods of analysis; data on composition of foods; studies on the production, compilation and dissemination of food composition data; studies on the statistics and distribution of such data and data systems; and studies related to data use, including nutritional epidemiology, clinical research, agro-biodiversity, food security and food trade. The journal has a strong base in nutrient composition, but places equal emphasis on bioactive non-nutrients and anti-nutrients in foods. Eight issues are published annually, along with the supplements. Volume 19 (2006) includes five regular issues; a special issue entitled, After Processing: The Fate of Food Components; a special double issue entitled, Biodiversity and nutrition: a common path; and one supplement, 28th US National Nutrient Databank Conference. Volume 20 (2007) includes five regular issues; s special issue entitled, 6th International Food Data Conference – the nutrition dilemma; and a double special issue entitled, The essential balance: Risks and benefits in food safety and quality. 

The 2005 JFCA Impact Factor was 1.072; the 2006 Impact Factor increased to 1.655.

The JFCA is among the journals included in the AGORA project (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture), an initiative to provide free or low-cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related life sciences to public institutions in developing countries.

3.  Publication: Food Composition Data: Production, Management and Use

The book, Food Composition Data Production, Management and Use, by Heather Greenfield and David Southgate (2003) is an official INFOODS publication and represents the most comprehensive and authoritative text on food composition activities. In 2007, FAO supported the translation and publication in Spanish (Datos sobre la composición de los alimentos - Obtención, gestión y utilización) and French (Données sur la composition des aliments - Production, gestion et utilisation), and permission has been given to the Korean Ministry of Agriculture to translate it into Korean. The decision to translate was taken because of the high demand from non-English-speaking countries to have what is recognized as the essential text for this area of work. The full texts in pdf can be downloaded from the INFOODS website, and the book itself, free for researchers in developing countries, can be ordered from FAO (order form is available on INFOODS website). 

4. Training

FAO/INFOODS were involved in the Food composition training course in Hyderabad, India, from 6-25 November 2006 and will be involved in the course in Wageningen, Netherlands, 1-13 October 2007.

The translations of Food Composition Data Production, Management and Use will allow for training courses to be held in Francophone Africa and Latin America; planning is underway.

FAO is developing a distance learning course under the INFOODS activity, which is now undergoing pilot testing and will be published in 2008.

A short half day training course has been developed by FAO to provide the basic knowledge on food composition to policy makers, professionals working in food consumption survey and advanced users and basic compilers of food composition data.

5. Standards Development / Technical Workshops

Work continues on food component identifiers and food composition data interchange, with some collaboration with the EC-funded EuroFIR project.  To advance the work internationally, a paper was presented at the 6th IFDC and published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, ‘Identifying food components: INFOODS TAGNAMES and other component identification systems’ by U.R. Charrondiere and B. Burlingame (2007).

A database has been developed to make the search on tagnames more user friendly. The updated tagnames are expected to be published in two stages, the first part in autumn 2007 and the second part in 2008.

6. Regional and National Food Composition Tables

The Lesotho food composition table has been developed within a technical cooperation project (TCP) and has been printed in 2007. Assistance is also given to Georgia and Armenia to develop their national food composition database.

A basic compilation tool in excel has been developed by FAO. It aims to assist countries without a computerized food composition data management system to compile a food composition table with proper documentation.