Proposal for structure and detail of a EuroFIR standard on food composition data

This article describes the structure EuroFIR has developed for standardising food composition data within a compiling and disseminating framework. In order to be useful, the framework needs to be sufficiently flexible to incorporate or modify data, using standardise terminology, as well as robust.
The main objects/ entities needed to describe food composition data are also included in this report. Each entity contains a set of descriptors/ properties including:

• Component: food constituents

• Value: amount of a component in a food

• Method specification: analytical method used to obtain the value

• Reference: bibliographical and related information

• Sender information: inform about the person and/ or organisation that prepared and despatched the Food Transport Package and contact details (2010)

• Content: information about data contained in the Food Transport Package

 

Key words

Data Management: all procedures relating to the handling of information (food composition), including offline and hardcopy functions as well as the management of computerised data
Computerised data management: all activities related to the input, maintenance, processing and output of information (food composition)
Data interchange: process of exchanging data between computer systems
Interchange package: valid set of interchange data containing information defining source and content

 

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