*4.5. Frida Food Data*

The database Frida Food Data (frida.fooddata.dk), also known as DTU foods [17], is managed by the National Food Institute with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) allowing public access to information about foods available in Denmark. The FDB also relies on the cooperation of stakeholders as food industries and retailers, as well as scholars and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration. Metadata (as the number of samples and their source) are included in registries encompassing more than 1000 food items.

The information above is summarised in Table 1 presenting some features of the most utilized food composition databases, for whole foods, easily and freely accessible online, in English.

The FDBs listed in Table 1 follow international standards and are interconnected thus providing access to reliable, comprehensive information on foods serving most common purposes.

In view of the current transformation of food systems in meeting the 2030 agenda, average global data on food composition may not be enough, as consumers are being encouraged to prefer healthier foods respectful of their food cultures and the environment [18]. Such changes will sooner or later reflect the level of the usage of FDBs, and consequently, the inspection of food habits linked to traditional balanced diets may direct the spotlights towards certain FDBs of national ambit. The panorama is currently not so encouraging because of the great variation observed from country to country, as illustrated in the section below.

#### *4.6. National Whole Food Composition Databases*

National FDBs, where they exist, vary widely in the extent of provided information, standardisation at various levels (see Figure 1; Figure 2), and the ease of access (including the language). Thus, starting by the British food composition table, obviously in English, in the United Kingdom, Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for maintaining food composition data relating to nutrients (macronutrients, e.g., fats, protein, carbohydrates as well as their micronutrient content, which includes vitamins and minerals) mostly from analysing foods commonly consumed in the country. The results are published as McCance and Widdowson's 'The Composition of Foods'—the UK food composition tables. The Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFIDS) is a nutrient dataset for 2898 foods and 303 others in the 'old foods' file, comprising 185 individual nutrients. CoFIDS is searchable online and can be downloaded free of charge in MS Excel or Ascii format, and it was first published in 2008 (https://fdnc.quadram.ac.uk/ accessed on 17 August 2021), available online at the date of this publication.

PortFIR is the Portuguese national food composition database for the most consumed foods in Portugal. The data cover about 42 nutrients ex. energy, macronutrients, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals (http://portfir.insa.pt/ accessed on 17 August 2021), available online at the date of this publication. The information is classified into groups and subgroups according to the FoodEx2 classification and description system (http://www.efsa. europa.eu/en/datex/datexfoodclass accessed on 17 August 2021), available online at the

date of this publication from the EFSA. The PortFIR FDB is free online, displayed in English, and allows searches as well as downloading in Excel format [36].

Similarly, the Turkish food composition database, an open access digital platform, 'Türkomp' (http://www.turkomp.gov.tr/main accessed on 17 August 2021), available online at the date of this publication provides a considerable dataset and information related to the nutrients, composition, and energy values of processed or unprocessed agricultural products that are produced and consumed in Turkey. Türkomp exhibits 63,000 data entries on the nutritional and energy value of 100 food components belonging to 580 foods from 14 food groups [37].

As referred above, it is rare to find suitable food composition tables of reliable and updated contents from developing countries, and to illustrate such situations, a few examples are herein presented.

Thus, in Morocco, a country integrating the UNESCO's list of countries that safeguard the Mediterranean diet as intangible heritage of humankind [38], the development of a national composition table dates back to 1977 by the Ministry of Agriculture of Morocco and was revised in 1984 by El Khayate [39]. Since then, no updates have been made. Recently, a multidisciplinary team of Moroccan and international experts worked on updating the food composition table, in order to supplemented it with high quality composition data. The consolidated version includes information on 38 nutrients, from 587 food products commonly consumed in Morocco. This update represents a 79% addition of foods, and according to the authors, 7% of nutritional values come from Moroccan data sources and 93% from international data sources, mainly from Tunisia, West Africa, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States [40]. The updated version provides information on foods and dishes commonly consumed in Morocco and can be used as a tool to promote nutritional research and to design public health strategies.

Another common situation with national databases of developing countries can be illustrated by the Tunisian food composition table, which displays the 240 foods and dishes usually consumed by Tunisians. The table corresponds to 95% of the food needs of the entire Tunisian population. It includes, for each food, the energy value as well as the content in 34 nutrients, expressed per 100 g of the raw edible part. This table is presented in the form of a book produced by a group of nutritionists from the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INNTA) who were supported by French and Belgian experts within the framework of the European project 'Impact of transitions epidemiological studies on health in North African countries' [41]. Another common situation corresponds to the composition table of foods from the Republic of Bahrain, which is a printed book not so regularly updated and hardly available. This database brings together 150 raw and readyto-eat foods and composite dishes according to standardized methods. This list includes cereals and grain products, bread and bread products, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, meat, poultry and eggs, fish, milk and dairy products, fats and oils, herbs and spices, beverages, local and western fast foods, etc. The table provides data for proximate composition, three minerals (calcium, phosphorus, and iron), and five vitamins (retinol, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin C) expressed per 100 g of edible portion [42].

Similarly, the Chinese food composition database is given by a printed book, not necessarily in English [43].

As the reader can easily deduce, the randomness of updates, the limited access, and the absence of English versions can be strong limitations to the use of national FDBs in disclosing specific food habits and/or the composition of particular food items.

In addition to free access institutional databases, a growing number of commercial customized applications have been appearing in the market. Such apps or so-called food databases mainly encompass different types of software to assist food formulation and labelling, dietary features, and recipe analysis, as well as fitness apps. The access is reserved and includes consultancy support services.

An example of a privately owned FDB, with an associated API, is offered by Edamam, a company that provides access to a food and grocery database with close to 900,000 basic

foods, restaurant items, and consumer packaged foods available on the website, at the date of this publication, https://developer.edamam.com/food-database-api (accessed on 17 August 2021). The Food API provides a filter to sort data by diet and health, determining dietary, allergy, and nutrition labelling, based on the food's ingredients. Over 70+ claims are automatically generated such as peanut free, shellfish free, gluten free, vegan, and vegetarian.

Edamam also provide data for basic foods (as flour and eggs) for calories, fats, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium, etc., for a total of 28 nutrients.
