Review of International Food Classification and Description

The preparation of reliable data on food requires precise nomenclature and detailed description of foods. Even data of good quality can be a source of error if they are derived from foods that are not clearly defined. Moreover, it is difficult to exchange data on foods, or to understand and compare nutritional status for different countries or individuals, without a coherent description of foods in databases. The present paper reviews the existing international methods of identifying foods in the computerized databases: Codex Alimentarius, CIAA Food Categorization systems, Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, Procome, Eurocode-2, INFIC, LanguaL, INFOODS, IIS, COST Action 99 Recommendations. The paper describes and contrasts the various systems, to point out where the systems are complementary, where they are in conflict, and whether they can be linked.