The international level

INFOODS was established in 1983 by the United Nations University (UNU), with an organisational framework and international management structure that include a global secretariat and regional data centres. Its mandate is the ‘Promotion of international participation and cooperation in the acquisition and dissemination of complete and accurate data on the composition of foods, beverages and their ingredients, in forms appropriate to meet the needs of the various users (government agencies, nutrition scientists and educators, health and agriculture professionals, policy makers and planners, food producers/processors/retailers and consumers).’ In the mid-1990s, FAO joined UNU in partnership for INFOODS. The main activities of INFOODS at the international level include the development of technical food composition standards, guidelines and tools, often through expert consultation processes; the development of technical publications and manuals; assistance to regional data centres and individual countries in developing their food composition activities; capacity development through classroom and online courses; and the biennial International Food Data Conference, which has been held in alternate years since 1993, with each second conference as an official satellite to the IUNS International Congress of Nutrition.

The regional level

There are 17 regional data centres in operation, most with well-established and effective coordination. Important activities include the preparation and updating of regional food composition tables, in both electronic and printed form (e.g. in West Africa, Pacific Islands, ASEANFOODS, LATINFOODS), convening of regular food composition coordination activities and technical task forces involving all the individual countries in the region, and participating in standard-setting consultation convened by the INFOODS Secretariat.

The national level

Most countries have food composition activities of one form or other. A national food composition programme is usually the result of the combination and coordination of activities, within some defined administrative framework, related to food composition data generation, compilation, dissemination and use. A steering committee is a useful structure, functioning well in many countries. This steering, or advisory, committee is ideally composed of individuals directly involved in food composition work: data generators, data compilers and data disseminators. Crucial to the effectiveness of a steering committee is the involvement of data users. The users can be selected from among dietitians, nutritionists, food industry personnel and consumer group representatives.

Often a single organisation holds the overall responsibility for managing a national food composition programme, yet it is rare that a single organisation accomplishes all the activities itself. Regardless of their affiliations, the laboratory-based data generators must interact closely with the data compilers, and the compilers must interact closely with the data users. The data compilers therefore serve the central function of, and usually serve in the role of, data disseminators (that is, they publish the data, electronically and/or as printed tables). In most countries there are other agencies with activities that have direct or indirect relationships with food composition data, but operate in concert with the national programme. In addition to the desirability of a coordinated national approach for accomplishing essential activities, it is productive and important for a national food composition programme to operate in conjunction with its regional data centre, and with ongoing international activities.