The impact of new Australian food composition data on national dietary references

Until the late 1980s three food tables were in common use in Australia: an official limited publication compiled from foreign sources; the UK food tables; and the US food tables. The new tables Composition of Foods, Australia released from 1989 onwards comprise original analytical data for edible portion and a wide range of nutrients in a large number of Australian raw, processed and prepared foods. A series of studies have been carried out to assess the impact of these new Australian tables on Australia's major dietary references such as food availability statistics, food guides, dietary guidelines, and dietary goals and targets. These studies also included comparisons with the foreign tables often used in Australia. The results of these studies showed that a number of factors were responsible for the major impact of the new Australian data on the national dietary references, many of which had to be revised as a consequence. The factors included improved analytical methods, genuine changes in foods over the decades, natural differences between Australian and foreign primary produce, and particular food manufacturing and fortification practices used in Australia. The results provided a strong justification for Australia's ongoing food analytical programme. On the basis of the Australian experiences other countries are advised not to accept foreign data uncritically for application in their own national nutrition programmes. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd