(P17-001-24) Insights in Establishing the Asian Food Composition Database in the Philippines

Objectives: To establish the food composition database in the Philippines as part of the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) for nutrition, agriculture and health.

Methods: Based on the INFOODS guidelines, the project team selected and collected 100 food items of cultural importance and lacking proximate and nutrient analysis data from strategic retail sources in Regions IV-A, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and National Capital Region (NCR). After examining the physical state, the three samples of processed food items directly underwent homogenization while the ten fresh food samples underwent edible portion determination before homogenization. All food items were properly packaged, labelled, stored and transported prior to appropriate laboratory analyses (proximate, vitamin and mineral analyses. To complete the data for all 100 food items, data on eight vitamins and minerals were “borrowed” for 19 food items from Philippine food composition table (FCT) but corrected for moisture and fat. Documentation in every process using photos and various forms was vital in developing the database. The team also checked the standard deviation of repeated measures. The technical instruction manual contained all the procedures and guidelines necessary to establish the database.

Results: The repeated measures of proxinate, vitamin, and mineral analyses of 100 food items were encoded in the AFACI data base including, Energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrates, moisture, ash, Vitamin A, B1, B2, C, Folate, Iron, Sodium, calcium, potassium . Results of repeated measures showed acceptable standard deviation.

Conclusions: The Philippine food composition data base is ready for the Asian food composition database  from 13 AFACI-covered countries.

Funding Sources: Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) - Rural Development Administration (RDA), South Korea