Foods data formats¶
Foods¶
Foods are of interest in (dietary) consumption assessments and the sources of exposure within expore assessments. The foods table is the main table of the food definitions. Relevant food related data, such as processing types, additional properties (e.g., unit weight, large portion consumption amounts, and brand loyalty), facets, and hierarchies, can be described in the food properties, food hierarchies, and faces and facet descriptors tables.
Foods¶
Each food is identified by a unique code (idFood) in a code system of choice, a name, and a description. In the EuroMix data collection, FoodEx1 codes are used for both foods in consumption surveys (foods-as-eaten) and for raw agricultural commodities (foods-as-measured). Example: ‘A.19.01.002.002’ is pizza and pizza-like pies, cheese, and vegetables and ‘A.01.02.001’ is wheat grain. Food codes can have a hierarchical structure (as in the FoodEx1 and FoodEx2 coding systems), using ‘.’ or ‘$’ as separator between adjacent hierarchical levels, e.g. ‘A.05’ is fruits and fruit products, ‘A.05.01’ is citrus fruits, and ‘A.05.01.001’ is grapefruit (citrus paradisi). Additional forms of foods, such as foods in processed form, can be specified via food facets according to the FoodEx2 system of EFSA.
Table aliases: Foods, Food, RawFoods.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idFood |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The unique identification code of the food. |
idFood, Code, FoodId, FoodCode, Food, Id |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(100) |
The name of the food. |
Name, FoodName, Name1, FoodName1 |
No |
Description |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
Food description. |
Description |
No |
Food properties¶
Additional food properties, such as unit weight and portion sizes can be attached using the food properties table.
Table aliases: FoodProperties, FoodProperty, RawFoodProperties.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idFood |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The code of the food to which the property is attached. The provided food code should match with a code of the foods table. |
idFood, FoodId, Food, FoodCode, Code |
Yes |
UnitWeight |
Numeric |
The nominal weight of a unit (dependent of the unit of consumption in g (default) or kg). Unit weights are relevant for foods-as-measured in the context of unit variability modelling. |
UnitWeight |
No |
BrandLoyalty |
Numeric |
A parameter used in brand loyalty modelling, where 0 (default) specifies no brand loyalty (on each eating occasion a random selection of the next lower level in the hierarchy of food codes), and 1 specifies absolute brand loyalty (on subsequent eating occasions the same selection of the next lower level in the hierarchy of food codes). |
BrandLoyalty |
No |
LargePortion |
Numeric |
Population (1 - 97 years): weight of a large portion (dependent of the unit of consumption in g (default) or kg). Used in deterministic modelling of exposure as in the IESTI equation. |
LargePortion, LargePortionPopulation, LargePortionGeneralPopulation |
No |
LargePortionBabies |
Numeric |
Babies (8 - 20 months): weight of a large portion (dependent of the unit of consumption in g (default) or kg). Used in deterministic modelling of exposure as in the IESTI equation. |
LargePortionBabies |
No |
LargePortionChildren |
Numeric |
Children (2 - 6 years) weight of a large portion (dependent of the unit of consumption in g (default) or kg). Used in deterministic modelling of exposure as in the IESTI equation. |
LargePortionChildren |
No |
Food hierarchies¶
Food items are commonly categorised in hierarchies, e.g. oranges and mandarins are citrus fruits. For example FoodEx is a food description and food classification (FDFC) system consisting of a large number of individual food items aggregated into food groups and broader food categories in a hierarchical structure of parent-child relationships.
Table aliases: FoodHierarchies, FoodHierarchy, FoodsHierarchy, RawFoodHierarchies.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idFood |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Food node. |
idFood, FoodId, Food, Code |
Yes |
idParent |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
Parent node of the food. |
idParent, ParentId, Parent, ParentCode |
Yes |
Facets¶
Fode codes can be linked to facets, as e.g. in FoodEx.
Table aliases: Facets, Facet, FoodFacets, FoodFacet, RawFacets.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idFacet |
AlphaNumeric(5) |
The food code of the food to which the facet is attached. |
idFacet, Code, Id, FacetCode, FacetId |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
Facet name |
Name, FacetName |
Yes |
Facet descriptors¶
Table aliases: FacetDescriptors, FacetDescriptor, FoodFacetDescriptors, FoodFacetDescriptor, RawFacetDescriptors.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idFacetDescriptor |
AlphaNumeric(5) |
The identification code of the facet descriptor. |
idFacetDescriptor, Code, Id, FacetCode, FacetId |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
The name of the facet descriptor. |
Name, FacetDescriptorName |
Yes |
Processing types¶
Table aliases: ProcessingTypes, ProcessingType, RawProcessingTypes.
| Name | Type | Description | Aliases | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
idProcessingType |
AlphaNumeric(50) |
The unique identification code of the processing type. |
idProcessingType, ProcessingTypeId, ProcType, Id |
Yes |
Name |
AlphaNumeric(100) |
The processing name. |
ProcName, Name |
No |
Description |
AlphaNumeric(200) |
The processing type description. |
Description |
No |
DistributionType |
AlphaNumeric |
The distribution type. Simulated processing factors are restricted to the interval (0,1) using a logistic-normal distribution (= 1) or simulated processing factors are restricted to positive values using a log-normal distribution (= 2). |
DistributionType, DistType |
Yes |
BulkingBlending |
AlphaNumeric(10) |
For types of processing applied on large batches e.g. juicing, sauce/puree. No bulking/blending = 0, bulking blending = 1. |
BulkingBlending, BulkBlending |
Yes |