Population Share with Adequate Nutrients % population

Summary

Food Balance Sheets (FBS)—also referred to as national food accounts, supply/utilization accounts, food disappearance data, or food consumption level estimates—are developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in conjunction with national statistics offices. FBS are commonly used data to estimate food supply and its utilization at the national level (FAO, 2001). Foods tracked through the FBS include both primary commodities (e.g. wheat, rice, fruit, vegetables) and a number of processed commodities (e.g. vegetable oils, butter). 

FBS data present a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country’s food supply and show the sources of supply and utilization for each food item (FAOSTAT, 2018). The equation for the calculation of total food supply (food available for consumption), is as follows:    

Food available for consumption = starting stocks + (quantity imported + quantity produced) – (quantity exported + seed + animal feed + waste + other non-food uses) - ending stocks (FAO, 2001).

Data on non-commercial food production and detailed information on processed foods are not available in FBS (Coates et al., 2012). Fewer than 100 foods are accounted for in FBS, limiting the level of detail available (Grünberger, 2014). Given the limited level of specificity of foods in FBS it can be difficult to match these food items with food composition databases (FCDB) in order to calculate nutrient availability in the food supply. However, FAO provides information on per capita energy, protein, fat and carbohydrates by matching data to food composition database. In addition, several efforts have been made to match FBS to energy, macronutrients, and a full range of vitamins and minerals (e.g. Smith et al., 2016).

FBS report food available for consumption at the aggregate, national level and do not directly measure food consumption by households or individuals. Therefore, FBS data cannot be disaggregated to determine the distribution of food consumption spatially, seasonally, or by demographic characteristics. Despite some of the limitations of FBS data, one of their key strengths is that they are a free, publicly available data source for almost all countries dating back to 1961 for most variables. FBS data can be accessed through FAOSTAT.

Strengths:

• Standardized data that allow for comparisons over time
• Provides proxy information on trends of population-level consumption patterns based on food available for consumption in food supply
• Easy to access and analyze, as it is publicly available and free to use through FAOSTAT
• Data available for over 245 countries and territories; collected every year starting in 1961 (presented as three-year averages)

Weaknesses: 

• Limited specificity foods and processed foods, which prevents nuanced analyses of food supply composition
• Limited specificity of foods and processed foods also hinders making accurate links to food composition databases to assess nutrient availability of the food supply.
• FAOSTAT is updated annually but there is an approximately three-year lag in reporting
• Quality and coverage vary across countries and commodities
• Non-commercial or subsistence production not usually included

Summary

Food Composition Databases (FCDB)—sometimes also referred to as Food Composition Tables (FCT) if in printed or PDF format—are collections of data on the nutritional content of foods. They are derived from quantitative analyses of representative samples of foods (Gibson, 2005). FCDBs have multiple uses, including for nutrient analysis of foods from dietary consumption surveys, nutrition labeling, and to inform nutrition-sensitive agricultural policies (Charrondiere et al., 2011). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the global coordinator of the International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS), through which it compiles a directory of national, regional, and international FCDBs that can be useful to those interested in analyzing food and nutrient availability and consumption, food fortification or supplementation programs (Greenfield & Southgate, 2003). In addition, FAO/INFOODS produces guidelines for developing FCDBs, food matching, and converting food data (FAO/INFOODS, 2018).

FCDBs are sometimes available online, but not always. FAO/INFOODS provides contact information and links to country and regional FCDBs. In addition, the ILSI Research Foundation has created the World Nutrient Databases for Dietary Studies (WNDDS), which catalogues 90 electronically available FCDBs and provides detailed information about each one. Electronic access to these data means that the information can be quickly updated, they contain a greater volume of material, and they are readily available for users with internet access (Greenfield & Southgate, 2003). Additionally, online FCDBs make it easier for the information to be reformulated according to the needs of various users.

While some low- and middle-income countries have national FCDBs, they often contain data that is several decades old and/or rely on information that is from another country’s FCDB. This is due to the expense and time-intensive nature of analyzing or gathering nutrient composition data (Greenfield & Southgate, 2003). Frequently, borrowed food composition data comes from the USDA and EU FCDBs, or from other countries in the region and regional FCDBs (Coates et al., 2017). However, nutrient contents of foods can vary due to environmental factors, production, and processing and thus can differ from one country to the next and even within countries (Greenfield & Southgate, 2003). Rapid food processing advancements and globalized food systems can challenge the task of keeping FCDBs both up-to-date and specific to the locale (Thompson & Subar, 2013). These various issues may result in decreased precision when it comes to identifying the nutrient content in a given food.

Given the complexity of FCDBs, adequate training on food composition data use is recommended, to comprehend and use the data. One recommended resource is the FAO e-learning course on food composition data (Food Composition Data E-learning Course, 2013).

Strengths:

• Food composition data have a wide variety of uses, including matching foods with nutrients from dietary assessment data in order to conduct analyses, nutrition labeling, policy making, and nutrition-sensitive agriculture
• Well-developed national FCDBs can offer a picture of the types of food available and consumed
• When FCDBs are paired with dietary consumption data, researchers are able to answer questions about nutrient adequacy in a population

Weaknesses:

• Differences in the development of FCDBs (e.g. nutrient calculations and sampling) can reduce comparability of nutrient data for specific foods across databases
• Adequate training on food composition data use is recommended to comprehend and use the data in FCDBs
• Food composition data that are outdated or from other countries are sometimes relied upon to update the national FCDBs of low- and middle-income countries