Food composition data PRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT AND USE H. Greenfield and D.A.T. Southgate Second edition Food composition data Food composition data PRODUCTION, MANAGEMENT AND USE by H. Greenfield University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and D.A.T. Southgate Formerly of the Agricultural and Food Research Council Institute of Food Research, Norwich, United Kingdom Technical editors: B.A. Burlingame and U.R. Charrondiere Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome 2003 Editing, design and production by the FAO Publishing Management Service The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ISBN 92 5 104949 1 All rights reserved. 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Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected] © FAO 2003 First edition published in 1992 by Elsevier Science Publishers Contents Foreword to the first edition vii Preface to the second edition ix Preface to the first edition xi Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Food composition data and food composition databases 5 Chapter 2 Initiation and organization of a food composition programme 21 Chapter 3 Selection of foods 33 Chapter 4 Selection of nutrients and other components 47 Chapter 5 Sampling 63 Chapter 6 Choice of analytical methods and their evaluation 83 Chapter 7 Review of methods of analysis 97 Chapter 8 Assuring the quality of analytical data 149 Chapter 9 Conventions and modes of expression of food composition data 163 Chapter 10 Guidelines for the use of food composition data 171 Chapter 11 Quality considerations in the compilation of a food composition data base 187 Chapter 12 Current needs and future directions 199 Appendixes Appendix 1 INFOODS regional data centres 209 Appendix 2 Calculation of sample numbers 214 Appendix 3 Methods of preparation of foods for analysis 216 Appendix 4 Examples of procedures for the preparation of analytical samples 221 Appendix 5 Calculations of fatty acids in 100 g food and 100 g total fatty acids 223 Appendix 6 Calculation of the composition of dishes prepared from recipes 225 Appendix 7 Essential book list for food composition databases 226 Bibliography 229 Subject index 281 vii Foreword to the first edition About 20 years ago, there was a recognition in Europe that real benefits would flow from coordinating the manner in which food composition tables were produced in the various countries of Europe. Subsequent development of computerized nutritional databases has further highlighted the potential advantages of working together. Such cooperation could lead to improved quality and compatibility of the various European nutrient databases and the values within them. This realization was one of the driving forces behind the development of the EUROFOODS initiative in the 1980s when those people in Europe interested in data on food composition began working together. This initiative received further impetus with the establishment of the EUROFOODS-Enfant Concerted Action Project within the framework of the FLAIR (Food-Linked Agro-Industrial Research) Programme of the Commission of the European Communities. It was quickly recognized that the draft guidelines for the production, management and use of food composition data, which had been prepared under the aegis of INFOODS (International Network of Food Data Systems, a project of the United Nations University), would be especially applicable to the objectives of the Concerted Action. The guidelines have been written by two recognized experts. Many people associated with FLAIR EUROFOODS- Enfant have added constructive criticism and advice to that offered previously by those associated with INFOODS. Thus the guidelines are backed by a consensus in the community of those responsible for the production and use of food composition tables and nutrient databases. I am sure that the book will be regarded by those concerned with the production and use of nutritional compositional data as a lighthouse on an ocean with poor visibility, many hazards and shipwrecks. It will provide invaluable light not only for people in Europe but also for those on other continents across the oceans. Clive E. West Project Manager FLAIR EUROFOODS-Enfant Project Wageningen, February 1992 ix Preface to the second edition The first edition of this book was used extensively in training food composition analysts and compilers around the world, commencing with the first Food Composition training course held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, in October 1992. Five courses have been held subsequently in Wageningen and the course has also been transferred to developing regions including one each in Chile for LATINFOODS countries, Jamaica for CARICOMFOODS countries, Thailand for ASEANFOODS and SAARCFOODS countries, and three in South Africa for the countries of ECSAFOODS. The use of the book in the United Nations University/INFOODS training courses revealed that changes were required to update the text and figures, in particular to make the book more user-friendly on an international basis. Increasingly, as time went by, the huge explosion in methods of analysis meant that the book was becoming rapidly out-of-date. Further, the establishment of food composition programmes around the world increased the pool of experience available. However, revision was not feasible as a commercial project. Although some tertiary courses, largely in the industrialized countries, were able to draw on the book in teaching, the prohibitive cost of the first edition meant that purchases of the book were mainly for libraries rather than by individuals or for local food composition programmes. When the first edition became out of print, the copyright reverted to the original authors. In 2001, Dr Barbara Burlingame, the Director of INFOODS (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [FAO]), proposed a rescue package – which was taken up eagerly by the authors. The proposal was for the authors to revise and update the first edition in the light of the comments of trainees in the course over the previous decade, and to incorporate improved methods of analysis (while not excluding those older methods, which were still being used satisfactorily in those parts of the world where access to sophisticated and costly instrumentation was limited). It was also proposed that FAO make the print edition of the book available at an affordable price, oversee its translation into the main languages of the United Nations Organizations and, further, place the book on the FAO Web site for worldwide access. The authors were pleased to accept this proposal since the original concept of the book had always been wide availability at a price that placed it within the reach of students and workers, particularly those in developing countries. The second edition was largely prepared by means of electronic communication inter- spersed with occasional face-to-face meetings to establish the roles of the authors and FAO and identify the new or revised material to include. David Southgate worked from a very large literature database compiled by Heather Greenfield for the period 1990 to the present, together with his unparalleled experience in the compilation of the United Kingdom tables x Food composition data and discussions with trainees in courses held in the Netherlands and other parts of the world, to collate the first comprehensive draft of the revised edition, which included particular sections drafted by Heather Greenfield and inputs from members of the INFOODS mailing list. A meeting of the authors with Barbara Burlingame in Norwich, United Kingdom, made possible an extensive review of the text, particularly to incorporate elements required by FAO. The draft chapters were reviewed by experts and the final version for publication was prepared through a long process of careful checking and revision conducted by Heather Greenfield, Barbara Burlingame and Ruth Charrondiere (FAO), working in collaboration by e-mail correspondence and, where possible, consultation with all the original sources of information. Barbara Burlingame oversaw the preparation of the final text for publication in various formats at FAO. As in the first edition, the personal perspectives and prejudices of the authors doubtless show through. We believe that there is no a priori method of obtaining compositional data without analysis. The book recognizes that analytical facilities and resources are limited in virtually all countries and that, at the same time, there is a large amount of compositional data in the literature, in both published and unpublished sources and in other databases. It is essential to make proper use of this material. The book therefore devotes a considerable amount of attention to