ẤN PHẨM THƯ VIỆN

I. PROJECT INTRODUCTORY

1.1. Project title: Establishment of Vietnam Food Composition Database

1.2. Sponsor: Korean Government through Rural Development Administration (RDA), Asian Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI). 

1.3. Management unit: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) 

1.4. Project objectives

* General objective

Through establishing Vietnam food composition database, we aim to promote the development of the agricultural and food processing sector to ensure food safety, nutrition security and meet the increasing requirements of domestic and international consumers.

* Specific objectives

Objective 1: Establishing Vietnam food composition database of 100 food items.

Objective 2: Integrating Vietnam food composition database with the network of AFACI member countries.

Objective 3: The countries within the network, especially the units under the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development related to food, human nutrition and animal husbandry will receive and effectively use the results of this project.

1.5. Implementation time (tentative): From 2021 to 2024

1.6. Budget: ODA fund is USD 90.000 (corresponds to VND 2.088.000.000), without counterpart fund.

1.7. Location

The activities are mainly carried out in Hanoi city in order to analyse the nutritional composition of the main agricultural and food items in Vietnam. In addition, the project will also collect samples of main agricultural products across the country (sample size is 100) for nutritional analysis.

1.8. Implementation Unit

The Centre for Agrarian Systems Research and Development - Field Crops Research Insitute (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and National Institute of Nutrition ( Ministry of Public Health).

II. PROJECT NECESSITY

Vietnam is a country that is quite diverse and rich in foods. Different foods have different nutritional components and have different effects on the physical, intellectual, etc. and the development of Vietnamese people.

As living standards improved, food sources and processed products become more and more abundant, the need to learn about food ingredients becomes more necessary.

Food composition databases are essential in preserving culinary culture and biodiversity. Culinary culture has close relation with nutritional ingredients and the nutritional ingredients will determine how food is processed.

The food composition database needs to be established and updated regularly, which is an indispensable tool in nutrition research, especially studies on dietary intake, nutritional epidemiology, nutritious diet, and even dietary treatment for the patient.

Basically, Vietnam had studies on the nutritional composition of food, but the updates and supplements are not frequent, so the impact is not great.

Around the world, countries also have their own Food Ingredients Table. The first edition of the Korea Food Composition Table (KFCT) was published in 1970 with support from FAO, UNICEF and WHO, and has been updated every five years by the Korea Rural Development Administration. .

III. METHODOLOGY FOR VIETNAM FOOD COMPOSITION DATABASE ESTABLISHMENT

Methods of Vietnam food composition database establishment includes:

Referencing secondary data method: The documents contain information of Vietnam's food composition database that were published by the National Institute of Nutrition and AFACI's, FAO's database.

Professional solution: The project will organize workshops for collecting comments from experts during the process of establishing food compositition database to secure the scientific contents, precision, and reality.

Agricultural products nutrient analysis method: With the collaboration of the National Institute of Nutrition, the most advanced and accurate methods will be applied in order to analyze the nutritional composition. 

IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

4.1. Main activities

Activity 1: Selecting and building a list of 100 food items to analyze and establish the composition database

Activity 2: Collecting and analyzing nutritional composition of 100 Vietnam food items. 

Activity 3: Establishing a Vietnam food composition database of 100 food items in 2 languages Vietnamese and English. 

Activity 4: Organising workshop on giving comments on the Vietnam food composition database of 100 food items. Activity 5: Developing a guiding handbook for using Vietnam food composition database. 

Activity 6: Developing a guiding handbook for analyzing database and quality management. 

Activity  7: Providing Vietnam food composition database in order to integrate with the available database in Vietnam and the network of member countries. 

Activity 8: Preparing yearly, project completion and financial reports in Vietnamese and English.

4.2. Expected results

* General result

Establishing a food composition database of 100 food items in Vietnam and developing the manuals for the use of Vietnam food composition database.

* Specific results

- Establishing Vietnam food composition database of 100 food items. The database contains scientific, accurate and completed characteristics. The Vietnam food composition database is the copyright of the project (co-owned by CASRAD and AFACI), but will be shared and provided to project beneficiaries if required.. 

-  Developing a guiding handbook for using Vietnam food composition database which is scientific, logical, simple and suitable with the practice of Vietnam.

- Developing a guiding handbook for analyzing database and quality management which is scientific, logical, simple and suitable with the practice of Vietnam.

- Workshop of experts to provide comments on Vietnam food composition database (50 delegates).

- Vietnam food composition database is widely published in Vietnam through the website of the project implementing unit and the website of state agencies.

- Preparing final and financial reports. The final report provides sufficient project and scientific information.

V. BENEFICIARIES

It can be said that the beneficiaries of this project are very large and long-term.

Producers will have chance to access information about product quality that they previously had little access to. As a result, they can adjust production plans to meet consumer needs.

Consumers will also have a source of information on the quality and nutritional composition of agricultural products and food to make the best choices in buying and processing agricultural products and food for family meals.

Businesses and traders will also benefit from having more sources of information on quality, nutritional information in agricultural products and food, etc. to make appropriate production and business decisions.

Policy makers will have an overview of the current status of quality and nutritional composition of agricultural products and foods of Vietnam in order to have policies in agricultural development as well as in nutrition issues, etc.

The partners participating in the project will be able to improve their capacity in nutrient composition analysis as well as their capacity in building a food composition database. 

VI. SAMPLE COLLECTING METHODS

6.1. Sample collecting method

On-purpose selecting method

6.2. Sample collecting and preserving guideline

- Each type of food (03 samples) is collected at 3 different locations on the market with the corresponding minimum amount in Table 1, these samples are contained in the package of manufacturer and with full samples' information (sample name, code if any).

- Samples are preserved to be fresh (for the group of meat and seafood), not crushed (for the group of vegetables and fruits) and in a full box with a label (for oil and milk, if any).

- Meat and seafood samples must be stored in cold containers and immediately transported to the laboratory. If not, store at -20^oC.

- Collectors should fully record information such as: sample name, location, time, sample weight, sample collector, code (if any)

- Record detailed Food Description information:

+ Information on livestock and plant varieties

+ For vegetables and fruits: write immature/ripe level

+ For meats: in which part of the animal (e.g. shoulder, buttock, thigh...)

+ Information where food is produced (province, district, commune – the more detailed the better)

+ Seasonal information of food (e.g. summer-autumn rice...)

+ Add another name of the food if the regional characteristic is included

Table 2. The minimum amount of collected samples

Source: National Insititute of Nutrition - 2023

6.3. Sample preprocessing methods

6.3.1. General instructions

Sample preprocessing method is an important stage that is one of the factors affecting the accuracy of analytical results

6.3.2. Precautions when preparing samples for chemical analysis with trace content (ppm, ppb)

• Instruments must be washed and dried before use.

• For the analysis criteria of trace content. Previously used instruments should be immersed in a suitable solvent to dissolve the analyte concentration on the instrument.

• When the result is false positive, it is necessary to check the sample preparation stage for errors leading to cross-contamination.

• Sample preparation staff must wear gloves when in direct contact with samples. Gloves should be changed when handling new samples.

6.3.3. Sample preparation instructions

a) Raw fish fillet sample

From the coarse sample, take a portion of each fish to reach a mass of about 250g for homogenous sampling. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

b) Raw sample liquid, viscous

From the coarse sample, use a clean glass rod to stir the sample. Use a glass tube/plastic tube/micropipet/spoon… to skewer straight from top to bottom at random points of the star container to take about 250g to create a homogenous sample. Mix well, put in PE bags to wait for analysis.

c) Raw meat sample

From the raw sample, remove inedible parts such as bones, skin, ... Then proceed to reduce the sample by taking a portion of each raw sample unit to reach a mass of 250g to create a homogeneous sample. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

d)  Non-homogeneous liquid, viscous crude sample

Separate the pureed solids and then mix them well with the liquid. Use a clean glass rod to stir the sample. Puree/mix well, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

Use glass tubes, plastic tubes, micropipettes, etc. to skewer straight from top to bottom at random points of the container to reach a mass of about 250g to replicate the homogenous sample.

e)  Raw sample of canned food

From the raw sample amount, shake well before opening the sampling cap as if taking a non-homogeneous liquid, viscous sample. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

f) Raw grain form

From the raw sample. Mix well, using a spoon to scoop samples at random points of the container to reach a mass of about 250g to create a homogenous sample. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

g)  Raw samples in the form of vegetables, tubers and fruits

From the raw sample, remove inedible parts such as roots, bark, seeds, .. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

h) Raw samples of fresh whole fish, shrimp and crabs

From the raw sample, remove inedible parts such as: bones, viscera, scales, shells.. Puree, put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

i)  Frozen samples

Take a representative of about 250g (edible portion) to defrost completely to room temperature, shake off the water. Puree with a meat grinder and put in PE bags waiting for analysis.

j) Specimens of bivalve molluscs

For samples for heavy metal analysis: it is required to thoroughly wash the outer shell to completely remove the soil and rock before carrying out the shelling. After shelling (shellfish, scallops) carefully check that there is no longer any membrane, gills, and muscle for scallops and wash again with clean water, drain, then proceed to grind the sample with a blender meat. 

VII. ANALYSIS METHODS

Table. Analysis indicators and applied methods

Source: National Insititute of Nutrition – 2023