Food consumption data tool supports food safety assessment

Dietary data reveal important information about food safety as well as nutrition. FAO and WHO are working together to make  information available about what people eat and drink reportedly so that governments can estimate dietary exposure to chemical and biological hazards and nutrient intake.  

The FAO/WHO Global Individual Food Consumption Data Tool (GIFT) collates and shares individual food consumption data that comes from national and sub-national surveys conducted in different parts of the world. The FAO/WHO GIFT is an open access repository of quantitative sex-and-age disaggregated data, which contribute to the assessment of food safety and nutrition. Individual quantitative food consumption data help us to understand the nutrient gaps, to identify the high consumers of a food item or food group, and identify the most vulnerable groups, such as women of childbearing age, infants and young children. The FAO/WHO GIFT platform offers a bridge between data owners and data users, and underpins the provision of sound scientific evidence to inform policy-makers in the setting of evidence-based and cost-effective food safety and nutrition interventions.

The infographics and indicators of the FAO/WHO GIFT platform are user-friendly and offer an ever-growing number of datasets, features and indicators. In addition, the individual food consumption micro datasets shared through the FAO/WHO GIFT platform can be combined with chemical occurrence data shared through other databases in order to help in developing dietary exposure assessments.

Access the FAO/WHO GIFT datasets publicly available here Competent authorities responsible for food safety or nutrition, as well as data owners, who are interested in collecting, sharing, or using dietary data, can contact the FAO/WHO GIFT Team at [email protected]