1. The Asia-Pacific Network for Food and Nutrition (ANFN) held its Regional Expert Consultation on Food Composition Activities in Bangkok, Thailand from 18 to 21 November 2003. The Consultation was attended by 15 experts from ten member countries, namely: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The participant from Afghanistan joined one day later as an observer. The National Project Director (NPD) of the UNDP-FAO Project on Integrated Horticulture and Nutrition Development (IHND), Bangladesh participated as a special invitee. The Pacific Islands was represented by the Food and Nutrition Officer FAO SAPA region. The list of the participants is given in Appendix 1.
2. Biplab K. Nandi, Senior Food and Nutrition Officer, FAO-RAP and Secretary, ANFN welcomed the participants, observers and guests. He gave a brief background of the Asia-Pacific Network for Food and Nutrition and informed the Consultation of the rationale for adopting Food Composition Activities as its theme. All the participants, resource persons, observers and guests were requested to introduce themselves.
3. The Consultation elected M.A. Wahed, Head of the Nutritional Biochemistry Department, ICDDR, Bangladesh and Shashi P. Gupta, Technical Adviser, Food and Nutrition Board, India as Chair and Co-Chair of the Consultation, respectively, while Elsa M. Bayani, Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council, Philippines and Yogesh Vaidya, Deputy Director General of the Department of Plant Resources, Nepal were elected as rapporteurs.
Opening of the Consultation
4. On behalf of the Director-General of FAO, Hiroyuki Konuma, Deputy Regional Representative welcomed the participants of the Consultation. As He Changchui, the Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative (ADG/RR) for Asia and the Pacific, was on duty travel, Mr Konuma opened the Consultation. He congratulated the elected chairs and rapporteurs and expressed appreciation to the ANFN Secretariat for a well thoughtout agenda for the Consultation.
5. He referred to the theme of this year's Consultation "Food Composition Activities" as being appropriate in that food composition activities had been receiving increased attention in recent years as we were faced with newer and expanded uses for food composition data. The importance of food composition data had long been recognized by the United Nations. In fact, when FAO was established 57 years ago, data on food composition immediately began to play a role in the Organization's activities. The early development of the World Food Surveys was linked to such data, and, over the years, FAO's support for agricultural planning and production has relied on knowledge about the nutritional value of foods. Data on food composition had always been crucial when providing assistance to governments in determining the nutritional adequacy of national diets and nutritional status of their people.
6. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific had been active in promoting the regional food composition activities as part of its regional programme under the Asia-Pacific Network for Food and Nutrition (ANFN). FAO also worked with regional partners and facilitated several expert consultations for ASEANFOODS, SAARCFOODS and, more recently, with the establishment of NEASIAFOODS.
7. Reliable data on the nutrient composition of foods consumed by people were critical in many areas of food and nutrition applications which were central to the issue of food and nutrition security.
8. Mr Konuma stressed that in the elimination of hunger and undernourishment, sufficient emphasis should be given to the applications of Food Composition Data (FCD) at household and village levels. He expected that the discussions of the Consultation would lead to clear outputs, work plans and facilitate the preparation of a project for appropriate application of FCD at village level to improve household food and nutrition security.
9. Lastly, he wished everyone a successful and productive Consultation. The full text of ADG He Changchui's address is given in Appendix II.
10. The Consultation adopted the objectives, provisional agenda and the time table (Appendices III and IV) as proposed by Biplab K. Nandi.
