Food intake data Sample Clauses

Food intake data. Of all the datasets needed for estimating exposure to food chemical intake, the most abundant by far are food consumption databases. Many of the EU states have programmes for the periodic collection of food consumption data and even where no national programme exists, inevitably, there are small regional surveys available or data from economic studies such as household budget surveys. The methodologies used to collect the data differ from country to country and getting countries to abandon one method for another is difficult given the need to monitor trends and given that methodologies may influence distribution about the mean. However, even if methods were harmonised, another major variability in databases is the way the raw data is retained both in the level of detail and in the system of categorisation. The simple example is data on intakes of “sea food”, to “shell fish” and “fish” and from “fish” to “fatty fish” or “white fish” and from “fatty fish” to “grilled” or “poached” salmon. This variation in detail can occur at the point of data collection or at the point of data entry into established database architecture. Any attempt to create a “harmonised database” as set out in the call, can only happen if the task has very specific questions to the national database managers and that is the case in the present project. When target chemicals are identified, target food categories will be established and it is these target food categories which will form the harmonised food intake database. Such a database will have to exist at several tiers representing different levels of definitions of food categories from highly aggregated to highly disaggregated. The latter databases will be used to establish a set of rules on the use of data such as means and standard deviations to establish predicted high end consumers and also a set of rules will be established for the separate use of data on data from “consumers only” versus the total population which would include non-consumers of the target foods. The present project will extend the state of the art in extending knowledge of food intake data by Agreeing a new tiered and harmonised food intake database structure (WP 5) Populating that database with targeted food intake data from all member states (WP 5) Setting out a series of rules on the use of datasets to project to high end consumers and to ensure that all vulnerable groups are included (WP 5 & 7.1)