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Using an expert panel to test a new nutrient profiling system for pre‐packed food
Author(s) -
Zhang Geng,
Ma Ning,
Wang Chunling
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.903.3
Subject(s) - food science , nutrient , food group , nutrition labeling , food composition data , legume , cooking oil , medicine , environmental health , chemistry , biology , agronomy , biochemistry , organic chemistry , biodiesel , orange (colour) , catalysis
Objective To examine the consistency between food nutrition scores given by a new nutrient profiling system, namely COFCO Nutrition Score (CNS), for pre‐packed foods and empirical ranking given by nutrition experts. Methods Two hundreds pre‐packed foods selected from USDA nutrient database were scored using CNS, based on food group‐specific weighted sums of percent Nutrient Reference Values for nutrients to encourage and for nutrients to limit. Individual food scores were calculated based on 100 kcal. Twenty seven nutrition professionals were asked to categorize the 200 foods into one of ten positions on the basis of their empirical views. The correlation between the two ranking methods were tested in nine food groups, including dairy products, beverages, staple foods, meats, cooking oil, snacks, mixed meals, legumes and legume products, flavoring and dressing. Results A good correlation was found between CNS and expert opinions across the nine food groups. The corresponding Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.83 for dairy product, 0.73 for beverages, 0.75 for staple foods, 0.82 for meats, 0.57 for cooking oil, 0.57 for snacks, 0.64 for mixed meals, 0.57 for legumes and legume products, 0.67 for flavoring and dressing (all P < 0.05). Conclusions The results suggested that CNS ranks pre‐packed foods in accordance with the views of nutrition professionals.