Project Number: 1235-52000-051-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Feb 20, 2004
End Date: Feb 19, 2009

Objective:
To acquire and/or generate representative and accurate compositional values for nutrients and other nutritional components in the diet of the U.S. population. To accomplish this object, NDL scientists will develop a multi-nutrient data documentation and evaluation system to assess the quality of data in the USDA national Nutrient Databank, to provide for the continuous monitoring of food composition data quality, and will establish new guidelines for the generation of high quality data.

Approach:
This project will develop and implement an expert system to evaluate the quality and representativeness of existing estimates for specific nutrientional components in foods. Priorities for new nutrient analyses will be identified and ranked for those foods which contribute up to 80% of the intake of specific nutrients for a representative sample of the U.S. population. Where nutrient data are inadequate for high priority foods and nutrients, new values will be generated by analytical determination, calculation, or consultation with the food industry. Samples of foods to be analyzed will be selected using a probability-based approach and nationwide sampling. Valid chemical methods including rigorous analytical quality control will be employed. Effective modes of data dissemination will be developed to address the needs of data users.