Food descriptions using taxonomy and the ‘Langual’ system

Abstract Although the numer of food composition databases in use throughout the world is increasing rapidly, there are still many problems concerning the sharing of compositional data among countries. Such problems may arise as a result of poor descriptions of foods listed in databases and as a result of confusion over the interpretation of commonly used names for foods. Alternative approaches for the description of and retrieval of information about foods, based on the ‘Langual’ system and on taxonomic methods, are proposed.