Major update of the CIQUAL table, reference tool for the nutritional composition of foods
ANSES is today publishing the 2016 CIQUAL table, the reference tool for the nutritional composition of foods, available free of charge on the Internet. Many new data have been added. The CIQUAL table now provides a detailed nutritional profile covering 61 different constituents for the 2600 foods most widely consumed in France, and thus becomes one of the most comprehensive tables of its kind in Europe. It is also a resource that can be exploited by doctors specialising in nutrition, dieticians, researchers in nutrition and public health, and by manufacturers in the food sector.
ANSES is constantly gathering data from operators, distributors and interprofessional associations via its Food Observatory, and conducts annual sampling and analysis programmes. All these data are integrated into the French reference data bank on the nutritional composition of foods. From now on, the data on certain nutrients found on the nutrition labelling of processed foods, collected by the Oqali (nutritional section of the Food Observatory), will also be included in this data bank. In total, more than 500,000 new items of data have been added since 2013. The 2016 CIQUAL table is an up-to-date snapshot of this data bank and thus provides users with the most recent composition data.
A major update: now one of the most comprehensive composition tables in Europe, with 2600 foods
A reference tool for anyone wishing to better understand foods, the new 2016 CIQUAL table contains 2600 foods, compared with 1440 in the previous version. It is now one of the most comprehensive tables in Europe.
The list of foods included in the table reflects recent changes in the food supply, thanks to work conducted in partnership with the Oqali, one of whose roles is to monitor these changes with the help of the players in the sector.
In addition to updating the source data, the CIQUAL table has also optimised data selection, giving priority to sources that most closely reflect French consumption, and to the most recent data. In addition, profile consistency controls have been refined.
A reference tool for nutrition labelling
The 2016 CIQUAL table, a reference base for nutritional labelling, provides nutritional composition covering 61 different constituents, including proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, fats and the individual fatty acids, energy, and vitamins and minerals.
Salt has now been added to the list of nutritional constituents of the 2016 CIQUAL table (previously only sodium was listed). Indeed, salt is one of the constituents included in the nutritional declaration laid down in the framework of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (the INCO Regulation), whose goal is to improve consumer information on food.
Un outil pour estimer les apports nutritionnels de la population française
A tool to estimate the nutrient intakes of the French population combined with the results of the INCA3 food consumption survey (which will be published in the first half of 2017), the data from the 2016 CIQUAL table will be used to update the nutrient intakes of the French population. Comparing these results with the nutrition recommendations will help guide public policy in the field of nutrition.
The 2016 CIQUAL table is freely searchable and fully downloadable. All the data are made available via the CIQUAL website and available as OpenData. Reuse of data is authorised under the conditions laid down in the Open Licence.