Development of a National Food Composition Table to design food security policies and programs

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The development of the Food Composition Tables has several challenges, so it is necessary to form
interdisciplinary teams that work jointly. The aim was to develop a National Table of Food Composition updated and methodologically appropriate to respond to the needs of food programs and the formulation of new healthy foods. METHODS:  An electronic search of the literature on food composition published since 2010 was carried out using Covidence online  software. A manual search of non-indexed national publications was also performed. The inclusion of the data was evaluated in  terms of analytical criteria. RESULTS: The search yielded 1647 potentially eligible references, of which 103 articles and reports  met the inclusion criteria. These studies provided information primarily on energy value, macronutrients, fatty acids  and, to a lesser extent, vitamins and minerals for various individual foods and multiple ingredients. The inclusion of this  information in the National Food Database was initiated through a software developed for this purpose, and work continues on  the compilation and generation of analytical data. DISCUSSION: These results will contribute to the continuous and  systematic updating of the food composition database, which is of utmost importance for public health.