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Newsletter 3, summer 2014
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Welcome to the Food Databanks National Capability (FDNC) Newsletter, keeping you up-to-date with news from our group based at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK.
Highlights
McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, Seventh Edition (MW7)
We are happy to announce that the book is in its final stages of proof reading with the FoodComp team and will be published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. We are holding a London launch on 16th September 2014. If you would like to register your interest in attending please drop us an email. The venue has limited capacity so tickets will be on a first come first served basis. MW7 provides an update of the nutrient data for the most commonly consumed foods in the UK, consisting of 1,180 foods with 48 nutrients. New data are included on key foods including flours and grains, bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, biscuits, cakes, eggs, fat spreads, fruits, vegetables and fish and fish products. The book is the essential handbook for professionals who need to know the nutritional value of foods consumed in the UK.
Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFIDS)
We aim to publish the first update of CoFIDS in the autumn. It currently contains approximately 3,500 foods, covering 75 major nutrients (and data for an additional 70 nutrients for selected foods), together with a specific labelling subset of data to meet legislative and policy needs.
Nutritional Information Solutions
The new EC Food Information Regulations (EU 1169/2011), which include nutritional information, become mandatory from 13th December 2016 and replace the previous Food Labelling Regulations. DEFRA's guidance has stated that McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods can be used to calculate average nutritional values for ingredients. Our reputation and expertise in the production of the UK Composition of Foods has enabled us to work in collaboration with Norfolk Trading Standards to develop a recipe calculation service which will provide nutritional labelling information. This will help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) meet the new requirements and will be a cost effective and quicker alternative to analysis. If you would like further information please contact us.
Bioactives database
The eBASIS and ePlantLIBRA databases have continued to be compiled over the last few years with more than 5,000 new values for composition of bioactives in plant foods, botanicals and plant food supplements. The databases include over 29,000 quality evaluated compositional values from peer reviewed publications covering 238 prioritised plants, plant food supplements and 495 compounds.
Outreach, meetings and events
FDNC has been present at numerous national and international meetings this year, visit our website for further information.
Trading Standards Institute Conference
30 June - 3 July 2014, Harrogate
FDNC and Norwich County Council Trading Standards presented the new Food Information Regulations recipe calculation labelling system at the leading consumer affairs and trading standards event in Europe.
Science in Norwich Day
1 June 2014, Norwich
Jenny Plumb from FDNC helped at the IFR stand at the science day in the centre of Norwich.  It was a family fun day of hands-on activities and showcased the research carried out by some of the 2,500 scientists who work in and around the Norwich Research Park.
The Natural Food Show: The home of organic, natural and speciality food
13 - 14 April 2014, London
Paul Finglas and Jenny Plumb from FDNC, together with IFR’s Food and Health Network, showcased the work of the team, highlighting our areas of work including composition of foods, food labelling, bioactive compounds and health claims. Over 9,500 natural products professionals attended the event and 557 companies presented hundreds of new natural products from all parts of the natural and organic food sector. 
Talks and workshops
As well as international meetings, FDNC has disseminated activities around the UK including talks and workshops at the Universities of Aberdeen and Leeds, FERA, British Nutrition Foundation, and more recently Kew Gardens (Medicinal Plant Named Services covering PFS and botanicals).
Publications
New scientific papers
Some of the scientific papers that FDNC has been involved with so far this year are:

'Viewpoint: Monitoring and addressing trends in dietary exposure to micronutrients through voluntarily fortified foods in the European Union' in Trends in Food Science and Technology (2014, 37, 152-161)
Member states are required to monitor dietary exposure to micronutrients through voluntarily fortified foods to evaluate the impact of Regulation (EC) No 1925/2006. The paper identified some of the issues for Member States in providing the relevant monitoring information for the Regulation, and suggested potential alternatives that could assist the European Commission in assessing the impact of the regulation.

'Systematic review using meta-analyses to estimate dose-response relationships between iodine intake and biomarkers of iodine status in different population groups' in Nutrition Reviews (2014, 72, 143-161)
Studies investigating iodine intake and biomarkers of iodine status were identified in a view to assess the data of the selected studies, and to estimate dose-response relationships using meta-analysis. The model of dose-response quantification used to describe the relationship between iodine intake and biomarkers of iodine status may be useful for providing complementary evidence to support recommendations for iodine intake in different population groups.

'Biomarker responses to folic acid intervention in healthy adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials' in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014, 99, 96-106)
A dose-response meta-analysis was conducted in healthy adults to quantify the typical response of recognised folate biomarkers to a change in folic acid intake. The results showed that studies administering up to 400ug folic acid/d showed a dose-response relationship, but for doses in excess of 400ug/d, no relationship was observed, and therefore do not provide meaningful results for consideration when generating dietary folate recommendations. Differences in heterogeneity were observed between studies using microbiological assays versus non-microbiological assays, indicating that the former may give more reliable estimations of folate status.
Training
Workshops and webinars
FDNC team members have contributed to workshops on using food composition data (University of Aberdeen, January 2014); food description and classification systems (FERA, York, April 2014); and two webinars (via FHN and EU PlantLIBRA) demonstrating the bioactives database to industry and national regulators, policy experts, and industry representatives (the latter is available to view here).
Erasmus placement student
FDNC hosted another Erasmus placement student Tom Segers from KAHO Sint-Lieven University, Gent, Belgium. Tom joined us for 12 weeks working on the ePlantLIBRA and eBASIS bioactives databases. 
News on FDNC projects
FDNC participates in a number of national and European projects.
New projects
FDNC has recently become involved in two new projects
Food Wiz smartphone app
FDNC is working closely with Food Angels UK Ltd (a Newmarket-based SME) to support further development of the ‘Food Wiz’ smartphone app, which scans product barcodes to provide ingredient information. The app is being extended with MW7 food data and tested in a field study under the EU "QuaLiFY: Quantify Life – Feed Yourself" (FP7, 2014 - 2016) project, which is exploring the development of personalised nutritional services to a range of potential users.
'Best practice guidelines for EFSA health claims dossiers' seminar
As part of the BACCHUS project FDNC staff were present at this recent seminar in Brussels. It was an opportunity for those considering or seeking to submit EFSA Health Claim dossiers to discover more about BACCHUS, and to improve their understanding of EFSA’s decision-making process for health claims dossiers.
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Food Databanks National Capability
Institute of Food Research
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Norfolk NR4 7UA
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