PTFI launches its First Tools and Data

In a two-day gathering in New York, the Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI) released its first suite of scientific tools, data and training on food composition, a significant milestone for this global undertaking. The Initiative released an initial dataset featuring 500 foods with supporting metadata on food biomolecular composition. This dataset represents the first and most comprehensive food composition data ever created based on standardized food biomolecular analysis, which can reveal more than 20,000 components found in food. Metadata on food systems helps show how food composition is impacted by agricultural practices and food processing.

According to the Alliance Bioversity and CIAT, who acts as co-secretariat to this project with the American Heart Association: “PTFI stands out from other food databases because it curates and considers vast quantities of data on the environmental and agricultural practices that shape what is in food. By understanding these connections, PTFI can help create a sustainable food system that takes into account everything from how food is grown to the way it is processed and prepared.”

Fourfold has supported the PTFI since 2022, initially in the capacity-strengthening of national research institutes in Ethiopia and India who are participating in the global effort. In an extension of the partnership, Fourfold will support Food EDU, an open-access educational platform that will facilitate the translation and application of cutting-edge food research in agriculture, nutrition and climate to diverse groups of learners. Food EDU will first focus on training healthcare professionals (dieticians, nutritionists, community health workers) on the healing power of food and its sustainability attributes.