Development of a National Food Database in Argentina

SAMMAN, NORMA; ROSSI, MARIA CONSTANZA; RIOS, FRANCISCO; BARRIOS, ROMINA; ROMERO, IRIS B.; LEVY LORENA; TENISI, MARIELA; MANGIALAVORI, GUADALUPE; ELORRIAGA, NATALIA

Lisboa

Conferencia; 13th International Food Data Conference: Challenges for Food Databases in the Bioinformatics Era; 2019

International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS)

The nutritional status of a population directly and indirectly impacts the productive capacity ofa nation and the development of populations. The development of Food Composition Tables hasseveral challenges, which is why it is necessary to form interdisciplinary teams that workarticulately.The objective was to develop a National Food Composition Table that is up-to-date andmethodologically adequate to respond to health needs in the nutritional aspects, formulationof new healthy foods and others.An electronic search of literature published from 2010 to the present was conducted withCOVIDENCE software in several steps (screening titles and abstract; complete article evaluationand selection). An annotated search for non-indexed ?gray literature?, laboratories informs andthesis was also completed. Quality of data was assessed in terms of sampling and analyticalcriteria.Results: A total of 1548 potentially eligible references were identified, out of which 241 articlesand reports met inclusion criteria. These studies provided information mainly about energyvalue and macronutrients and also of vitamins and minerals for 182 individual food items andmulti-ingredient foods. Cereals, legumes and derivatives, milk and dairy products, meat, fish andderivatives were the most frequently reported food groups. Non-representative sampling andpoor description of the analytical quality control, reports on dry base without including moisturevalue were the most frequent issues found to reject the sources of data. This information willbe soon included in the National Food Data Base. To accomplish this, software has beendeveloped, and work is continuing on the compilation and generation of analytical foodcomposition data.Conclusions: These results will contribute to the continuous and systematic updating of foodcomposition database, which are of paramount importance for public health. Collaborationamong data generators, compilers, and users is essential.