What was it all about?

This investment updated the national food composition data for edible Australian-grown horticultural commodities by using current analytical methods to measure the nutrient content of plant food samples that represent the current growing conditions in Australia.

The research delivered profiles for approximately 150 nutrients across more than 90 Australian-grown fruit, vegetable and nut commodities and, for relevant nutrients, the percentage of the Recommended Dietary Intake of certain nutrients available from one serving of food.

This research will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including:

1. Growers and other industry stakeholders: to identify, label and promote commodities as good sources of key nutrients.
2. Consumers: to identify and select good food sources of key nutrients.
3. Health educators and professionals: to recommend horticultural produce based on nutrient content and to develop appropriate public health nutrition messages.
4. Researchers and health professionals: to estimate and optimise intakes of nutrients from plant foods.
5. Food regulatory bodies: to monitor relevant nutrients in the food supply.

The new food composition data will be freely available through future releases of the Australian Food Composition Database.

 The project has also provided nutrient composition data updates to other Hort Innovation-funded projects conducting scientific literature reviews for specific industry sectors, namely, the citrus, sweet potato, avocado, nut, mushroom, melon and onion industries.