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Food compositional tables

Printed tables

Food composition tables were originally produced as printed versions, and for many years this remained the only format.

Food composition tables that have been produced or are available in Europe are listed on the INFOODS website. An inventory of European food composition databases and tables was also compiled as part of the COST Action 99 (see below) and can be found at http://www.langual.org/langual_literature.asp.

Electronic formats

While printed tables are still produced in most countries, computerised databases have become increasingly important because they can hold large amounts of data and allow easy access to and manipulation of data. Electronic formats range from ASCII (plain text), spreadsheet formats on disc, CD-ROMs and databases within on-line access.

• EuroFIR (European Food Information Resource)
• EuroFIR European food composition databases

Food composition tables per country

  Austria

The Souci, Fachmann and Kraut tables and the German Nutrition Database (deutscher Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel) are used as food composition tables in Austria. In addition to the German Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel, the Austrian Department of Nutritional Sciences of the University of Vienna takes into account typical Austrian specialities and recipes.

  Belgium

http://www.nubel.com/

From 1985 onwards data were collected in Belgium from different sources including; analytical values, data from the food industry, food distribution data and data from scientific literature. These data were compiled into a food composition table and first published in 1992 by NUBEL vzw. and updated in 2004 (Nubel; 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004). Nubel (meaning Nutrition BELgium) is a non-profit organisation responsible for the management of the national food composition data in Belgium and has established a partnership between public and private sectors. Nubel has prepared a special on-line edition of brand name foods at http://www.internubel.be (fees charged).

  Cyprus

The Ministry of Health State General Laboratory is responsible for food composition data in Cyprus. The second edition of the Cypriotic food composition table was published in 1999 (Yiannopoulos et al., 1999). Values are derived solely from analyses; this was possible due to Cyprus being a small island with limited sources of food production. Work is now underway to expand the range of foods and components.

  CZECH REPUBLIC

http://www.chpr.szu.cz/dbdata/foodcomp/nut2001.asp

The Czech Nutrition Society has published tables (Society for Nutrition, 1992) based mainly on literature data with some analytical results collected in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Further tables on milk and milk products and fruit and vegetables were published in 2001, based on Czech analytical data and literature values. The Czech data are available free on-line (Czech with English food names) at http://www.chpr.szu.cz/dbdata/foodcomp/nut2001.asp. There is a co-operation agreement between the Food Research Institutes in Bratislava and Prague.

  Denmark

http://www.foodcomp.dk/fvdb_default.asp

  Estonia

Estonia does not have a national food composition table. The Estonian food composition database contains nutrient data mostly from Finnish and Swedish databases, but also contains Russian and USDA data, as well as labelling information and data calculated from recipes.

  Finland

http://www.fineli.fi/index.php?lang=en

The national food composition database, Fineli, was established at the National Public Health Institute in 1984 as part of the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study. Information on 48 components and 1800 foods is available free of charge on the internet (http://www.fineli.fi/) in Finnish, Swedish and English.

  France

In France, tables were published from the 1950s onwards but following a revision of the Randoin tables (Randoin et al., 1961), they were based upon published data (West, 1985). An analytical programme began during the 1980s, with a new table, containing 572 foods, published in 1991, followed by a second edition, containing 800 foods, in 1985. Le Centre Informatique sur la Qualité des Aliments (CIQUAL), which is part of the French Food Safety Agency (l’Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments), is responsible for maintaining the food composition tables.

  Germany

Following the early pioneering work on food composition in Germany, the first edition of the comprehensive Souci, Fachmann and Kraut tables was published in 1962. The sixth edition of these tables were published in 2005. The Souci-Fachmann-Kraut tables are available on-line at http://www.sfk-online.net/cgi-bin/sfkstart.mysql?language=english (fees charged).

"The German Nutrient Data Base (German: Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel, http://www.bls.nvs2.de/index.php?id=39&L=1) is a nutritional value table on the basis of electronic data processing. The BLS was developed as a standard instrument - to be handled uniformly - for the assessment of nutritional surveys in the Federal Republic of Germany. The BLS essentially covers average nutritional values (137 constituent data per food) of approximately 10000 foods available on the German market (fresh foods, food preparations, dishes etc.). The Data Base contains research results of German Federal Research Centres and universities. In addition analytical values compiled from nutritional science literature, international nutrient tables and from food producing firms were used. All this data and their sources are documented in an unpublished “base value data file”. The analysed data correspond mostly to unprocessed food items. In order to obtain the nutrition values for composite dishes and processed food as well, methods of calculation were developed. That means that nutritional data in the BLS were mainly generated by algorithms and model calculations. Since May 2004 is the BLS under responsability of the Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food, location Karlsruhe. "

  Greece

The first edition of the Greek composition tables was published in the form of a booklet circulated to hospitals and other institutions in 1982 (Trichopoulou, 1982). This book was based on a study of recipes used by a large Athens hospital and the boarding-house of a visiting nurses’ school in the capital, and was undertaken by the Athens School of Hygiene. A second edition, in 1992, revised and expanded the data, to include 114 Greek cooked foods and dishes, for energy and 27 nutrients. The data in these two editions were derived from UK food composition data. However, the third edition, published in 2004, included, in addition and for the first time, data presented from the chemical analyses of selected traditional Greek foods and dishes. More information on the latest Greek food composition tables can be found on the Internet – http://www.nut.uoa.gr/english/Food_Comp_Tables/Food_Comp_Tables_EN.htm

Similarly, data for Cretian foods have been published (http://nutrition.med.uoc.gr/GreekTables/index.htm).

  Hungary

Work to establish a computer-based information database for food composition and nutrition data began in the early 1990s. In 1998 the 2nd edition of the Hungarian Nutrition and Food Composition Table, compiled and edited by Gy. Bíró and K. Lindner, was published.

  Italy

http://www.inran.it/servizi_cittadino/per_saperne_di_piu/tabelle_composizione_alimenti

The first food composition tables in Italy were compiled in 1946 by the National Institute of Nutrition (Istituto della Nutrizione, 1946), using data from analyses carried out by the Institute and data from the literature. Several updated editions followed, the latest being published in 2000 and available on the web (http://www.inran.it/Documentazione/tabelle.htm). Due to the need for information about a growing number of nutrients and food components, a project funded by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC, Milan) led to the publication, in 1998, of a database (The Food Composition database for Epidemiological Studies in Italy (www.ieo.it/italiano/ricerca/banca%20dati.htm), compiled from the Italian food tables with additional data from foreign food tables and scientific papers. The database is presently the base for the analyses of large epidemiological studies in Italy and it is currently being updated.

  Latvia

The Food and Veterinary Service is responsible for food composition data in Latvia. The history of Latvian food composition data is fairly new and comprises data collected within certain monitoring programmes and specific research projects, including data on milk products (15 samples: nutrients, energy value, salt content; carried out by the Nutritional Council/Marketing Council) and vegetable oils (60 samples: safety criteria, quality criteria).

  Lithuania

The National Nutrition Center of the Lithuanian Ministry of Health is responsible for food composition activity in Lithuania. Collaboration with FAO and Slovak colleagues began in 1995. The first volume of the national food composition tables, entitled Food Composition Tables – Energy and Nutrients, was published in 2002, and had information on 36 nutrients, energy and waste in unprocessed food items for over 300 primary foods and food products (e.g. vegetables, fruits and berries, potatoes and roots, breads and cereals, flour and pasta, fats and oils and milk and milk products). The second volume, published in 2005, includes information on soups, vegetable products, meat products, fish products, starchy and potato products, egg products, sauces and sweets. Data are derived from food composition tables from different countries (mainly Slovak, Polish, Swedish, and Russian), scientific materials published in Lithuania and reports from Lithuanian importers and manufacturers.

  Norway

The first official composition table in Norway was published in 1960 (Nutrition Council, 1960) and was primarily intended for use as a tool in nutrition education and related activities. The table contained data for energy and 13 nutrients (water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, beta-carotene, retinol, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid and vitamin D) for approximately 260 foods.

Collation of the data was started in 1954 when the Nutrition Council appointed a committee of five scientists whose aim was to plan individual dietary surveys. Such surveys were urgently needed as a basis for providing sound and relevant advice to various population groups as opposed to ideas in popular books written by international supporters of raw foods, vegetarianism, acid/base theories etc. A handwritten table with nutrient data and their sources was first prepared. The table was put together as a cooperative effort by several research groups who evaluated data from available sources; some even did their own analyses of foods that were poorly covered. The work was partly financed by the research groups who published their results as scientific papers, and partly by three governmental ministries (Fisheries, Agriculture and Social Welfare).

The first electronic database for calculation of nutrient composition from weighed dietary surveys was established in the early 1970s from punched cards.

  Poland

The first official food composition tables in Poland were published in 1954 by Panstwowy Zakad Wydawnictw Lekarskich (Polish State Medical Publishers) (Rudowska-Koprowska, 1954). The author was Jadwiga Rudowska-Koprowska, a researcher employed at the State Institute of Hygiene. A total of 336 foodstuffs were covered. Data were provided on the energy, water, total protein, fat, carbohydrates (as total and fibre), ash, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A, B1, B2, niacin and vitamin C content of 100 g of edible portion and 100g of marketed product of the foods. Data sources included the results of laboratory examination of the major food products covering groats, flours, cheeses, meat, offals and products, mushrooms, and some vegetables performed by the Department of Hygiene of Nutrition of the State Institute of Hygiene, together with data derived from literature. Many more editions have been published since, the latest in 2005, which included information on 82 components for 932 food products and dishes (Kunachowicz et al., 2005).

  Portugal

The first food composition table in Portugal was published by the National Institute of Health in 1961 (Gonçalves Ferreria and da Silva Graça, 1961), following analytical work carried out within the Institute, on over 700 foods, including raw foods, canned foods and fruit preserves. All the values in the tables were obtained by direct analysis of the food samples. The work was prompted by the recognition of a lack of food composition data in Portuguese nutrition scientific literature and its importance in the medical and public health fields. Subsequent editions have been published and the data have also been incorporated into the Portuguese dietary analysis program PIABAD used for the conversion of food consumption data into nutrient intake data.

  Slovakia

The Czech Nutrition Society has published tables (Society for Nutrition, 1992) based mainly on literature data with some analytical results collected in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Further tables on milk and milk products and fruit and vegetables were published in 2001, based on Czech analytical data and literature values. The Czech data are available free on-line (Czech with English food names) at http://www.chpr.szu.cz/dbdata/foodcomp/nut2001.asp. There is a co-operation agreement between the Food Research Institutes in Bratislava and Prague.

  Slovenia

Food composition activities are coordinated by the Department of Food Science and Technology at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana. Two main food composition projects have been financed by the Slovene Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food. There is also collaboration with experts from other Slovene research institutions. The first project, from 2001-2003, was to develop a Slovenian food composition database. Food composition data from research within the department were used, and limited analyses were performed for national foods. The database includes information on water, ash, fat, protein, and/or total carbohydrate for most of the 320 foods and beverages covered. The second project, from 2004-2006, is to develop Slovenian food composition tables for meat and meatproducts. The database is being compiled with new data and analytical work is focused mainly on meat of Slovenian origin.

  Spain

Following the publication of a review of the recommended daily intakes of energy and nutrients in 1980, it was considered necessary to provide an up-to-date analysis of the composition of foods most commonly consumed in Spain. Initial tables were compiled from data collected from various sources within Spain, together with data from the literature (West, 1985). Tables by Olga Moreiras and colleagues (e.g. Moreiras et al., 1992) have now run to 9 editions.

One of the activities of the National Data Laboratory of the Center for Superior Studies in Nutrition and Dietetics (CESNID) is the development of a food composition database for the Spanish population. This database is available as tables (CESNID, 2003) and a CD-ROM with a nutrition software programme.

  Sweden

http://www.slv.se/ldb/

  The Netherlands

http://www.nevo-foodcomp.nl/

In 1972 the committee Uniform Coding of Food Consumption Surveys (UCV) started building an electronic database system with data on the nutritional value of foods used for processing food consumption surveys. As a foundation for this database the nutritional values of the NVT table were used, to which other nutrients and foods were added.

In 1985 the committee UCV became an independent organisation, the NEVO Foundation (‘Stichting Nederlands Voedingsstoffenbestand’). In 1988 the NVT merged with the NEVO Foundation resulting in one central Dutch food composition database. From that time onwards the Dutch food composition table (NEVO table) has been compiled by the NEVO Foundation (http://www.nevo-foodcomp.nl/).

  United Kingdom

Following the publication of the fourth edition, MAFF, and subsequently the Food Standards Agency on its formation in 2000, took on responsibility for maintaining and updating the UK food composition tables. Fifth and sixth summary editions (Holland et al., 1991; Food Standards Agency, 2002) and a range of food-group specific (e.g. fruit and nuts) and other nutrient-specific supplements (e.g. fatty acids) (details given in Food Standards Agency, 2002) were published. The data were, of course, already a working tool for nutritional research and were used in government dietary and household expenditure surveys (e.g. MAFF’s National Food Survey). The launch of a series of detailed national diet and nutrition surveys (the Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey programme) was perhaps one of the factors responsible for a shift in emphasis for nutrient analysis programmes. They are now designed to directly support these food consumption surveys. The food composition tables a by product, published to ensure wide dissemination to the many users of the data.