Overview of Kenya Food Composition Tables 2018 and Kenyan Recipe Book 2018

Food composition data are the basis for almost all aspects of nutrition and represent the basic tools to improve nutrition, health and food security in all populations. In Kenya, the previous Food Composition Tables (FCT) were first published in 1993. Some of the challenges in the previous FCT were incomplete data, missing components and non-user friendly data presentation. Furthermore, since 1993, there has been a lot of changes and advance in knowledge on food composition. This made it necessary to review and update the Food Composition Tables.

This review and update of the food composition tables was a collaboration between Ministry of Health (MOH), Nutrition and Dietetics Unit and the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MOAI) through Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) with financial and technical support from Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations. The lead officers were from the Ministry of Health.

To facilitate this work, Food Composition Table Steering Committee was formed to guide the review process. The steering committee had a representation from different ministries, higher learning and research institution, development and implementing partners.

This book contains 522 raw and cooked foods and 142 recipes with full data on eight (8) proximates, eight (8) minerals, eight (8) vitamins and three (3) other components which are cholesterol, phytate and oxalate. Food rich in fats have full fatty acids profile while those rich in proteins had a full profile of amino acids. The recipes were developed based on the ingredient availability in FCT, relevance to current utilization at community level, method of preparation, ingredient availability and ingredient uniqueness.

These documents are very important to epidemiologists and research institutions working on food, nutrition and health related researches as the main users of these databases. Nutritionists and health practitioners rely on the FCTs to facilitate health education and advocacy. Food formulation and labeling, industrial as well as agricultural food production for healthy populations should also be guided by accurate and reliable information on food composition.

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