How food composition databases can encourage innovation in the food industry

The increasing consumer interest in health and the food industry's responsibility to make “the healthy choice the easy choice” have been incorporated into Unilever's Vitality Mission. This involves improvement of the nutritional quality of our food and beverage products and ensuring responsible communication to consumers. Food composition databases play a central role in guaranteeing a sound nutritional basis for our product composition and nutrition communication.Optimal nutrition composition of foods can be determined based on the comparison of current dietary intakes with dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations. This comparison can be made not only in terms of minimum amounts of healthy nutrients, but also in terms of maximum levels of less healthy nutrients. Unilever has initiated a process of evaluating and optimising its entire food and beverage product portfolio in terms of trans fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, sugar and sodium. Food composition databases were used extensively for the development of the benchmarks that are being used in this evaluation.An example of food composition databases being used to substantiate communication is the Knorr Vie shot claim that this product provides 50% of one's daily fruit and vegetable needs. To support this claim, analytical data for Knorr Vie were compared with calculated nutrient data based on the industrial recipes using food composition databases from four different countries.As a result of increasing consumer interest in health, communication to consumers on the dietary role and potential health benefits of food and beverage products is essential. Ideally, validated ingredient data from suppliers, together with analytical data, form the basis of nutritional labelling. This will enable the consumer to make a healthy choice. Food composition databases are also used in consumer communication materials such as dietary assessment tools in interactive web sites.There is a need for good quality data on nutrient content from various countries for product innovations.