BS EN 16104:2012

What is BS EN 16104-Structure and interchange format of food data about?  

BS EN 16104 is a European standard on food data that discusses the structure and interchange format of food data for the assessment of diet quality and the development and application of food-based dietary guidelines.  

BS EN 16104 specifies requirements on the structure and semantics of food datasets and of interchange of food data for various applications.  

Food data refers to information on various food properties and includes various steps in the generation and publication of such data, e.g., sampling, analysis, food description, food property and value description.  

BS EN 16104 regards food data as datasets covering: 

• Identification, description and classification of foods including food ingredients 
• Qualitative and quantitative food properties that can be measured, calculated or estimated 
• Data quality values and other metadata 
• Specifications of methods used for obtaining these values 
• References to sources for the information reported 

BS EN 16104 includes requirements on: 

• Semantics and data structure for food data 
• Content of referenced controlled vocabularies 
• XML encoding for interchange of food data 

Note: BS EN 16104 does not include: 

• Food description methods 
• Quality assessment methods 
• Content of controlled vocabularies, for example, controlled vocabularies for nutrients 
• Database implementation 

Who is BS EN 16104-Structure and interchange format of food data for? 

BS EN 16104 on the structure and interchange format of food data is useful for: 

• Food manufacturers 
• Food analysis laboratories 
• Authorities 
• Researchers 
• Retailers 
• Nutritionists/dieticians 
• Restaurants/foodservice operators 

Why should you use BS EN 16104-Structure and interchange format of food data?  

Food data address the description and identification of foods and their food properties. They are needed and used for many purposes, e.g., labelling, product development, dietary treatment, nutritional treatment, consumer information, and research. 

BS EN 16104 provides you with guidance on data structure, classes for attribute specification, classes for codes of controlled vocabularies, classes for identifiers, class descriptions, data encoding, data instances with identity, XML schema and examples of XML encoding. 

The requirements provided by BS EN 16104 assist you in developing a framework that facilitates and enables the generation, compilation, dissemination and interchange of food data that are comparable and unambiguous with respect to the identity of foods, the description of foods and food property measures including their quality.  

With obedience and compliance to BS EN 16104, you can improve and harmonise food data description and interchange that helps in the selection, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and use of safe food.