How was the database developed?
As a first step, food composition data of species identified for inclusion in location-specific portfolios were searched in scientific articles, food composition databases and reports. Thereafter, the data were screened against a set of quality criteria and compiled, standardized and aggregated following international tools, standards and guidelines on food composition. These include the FAO/INFOODS Compilation Tool Version 1.2.1. developed by Charrondiere, UR., 2009, the FAO/INFOODS Guidelines for Checking Food Composition Data prior to Publication of a User Table/Database - Version 1.0 (2012), FAO/INFOODS Guidelines for Converting Units, Denominators and Expressions Version 1.0 (2012) and INFOODS Food Component Tagnames, all available at (www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/).
All component values in the database are presented per 100 g edible portion on fresh weight basis (EP). The foods represent arithmetic mean values of the collected compositional data derived from different sources. In addition to the arithmetic mean, the minimum value (min), the maximum value (max), the standard deviation (SD) and the number of data points (n), are presented in cases where adequate data were available. The number of data points refers to the number of different data sources and/or the number of data points within one reference. No weighted mean was calculated due to lack of data.For more information on the methodology, expression of the components, data quality and value documentation, see the file “User Guide” under downloads.
| Tools, standards, guidelines applied in the development of the database: | |
|---|---|
| Food composition data management system | FAO/INFOODS Compilation Tool Version 1.2.1. developed by Charrondiere, UR, 2009. Available at: www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/software-tools/en/ |
| Standards | INFOODS Food Component Tagnames, available at: www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/standards-guidelines/food-component-identifiers-tagnames/en/ |
| Guidelines | |
| List of abbreviations | |
|---|---|
| Food code | Unique code, assigned to food item |
| BiblioID | Unique code, indicating the literature source from where the nutrient values were taken. In the bibliography, the full reference of the code is provided. |
| INFOODS | International Network of Food Data Systems |
| TAGNAMES | INFOODS Component Identifier. These are unqiue codes or abbreviations according to a specific naming system that allows to clearly define components using only few characters. The primary use for a tagname is to determine whether the associated values can be compared or combined. (FAO/INFOODS, 2013: E-Learning course on food composition data. FAO, Rome) |
| g | gram |
| mg | milligram |
| mcg | microgram |
| mean | arithmetic mean |
| min | minimum value |
| max | maximum value |
| SD | standard deviation |
| n | number of data points |
