 To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Fax: 33 #1-49772650. E-mail: j.ireland@dg.afssa.fr JOURNAL OF FOOD COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS (2000) 13, 529 } 538 doi:10.1006/jfca.2000.0921 Available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on CRITICAL REVIEW Review of International Food Classification and Description Jayne D. Ireland* and Anders M+ller- *Informatics Centre for Food Quality (AFSSA-Ciqual), Maisons-Alfort, France; and -Danish Food Administration, S~borg, Denmark Received July 7, 1999, and in revised form March 29, 2000 The preparation of reliable data on food requires precise nomenclature and detailed description of foods. Even data of good quality can be a source of error if they are derived from foods that are not clearly de"ned. Moreover, it is di$cult to exchange data on foods, or to understand and compare nutritional status for di!erent countries or individuals, without a coherent description of foods in databases. The present paper reviews the existing international methods of identifying foods in the computerized databases: Codex Alimentarius, CIAA Food Categorization systems, Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, Procome, Eurocode-2, INFIC, Lan- guaL, INFOODS, IIS, COST Action 99 Recommendations. The paper describes and contrasts the various systems, to point out where the systems are complementary, where they are in con#ict, and whether they can be linked.  2000 Academic Press Key = ords: food classi"cation; food description; Codex Alimentarius; Eurocode-2; INFOODS; IIS; LanguaL. INTRODUCTION There is a general agreement on the importance of food nomenclature and descrip- tion. The preparation of reliable data on food requires precise identi"cation of foods. Even data of good quality can be a source of error if they are derived from foods that are not clearly de"ned (Polacchi, 1987). The simple food name can be inadequate or ambiguous to those who are not closely acquainted with the local language and culture (e.g., &&sweetbread''). A common name may be misleading when the same name is used for di!erent foods in di!erent regions or when it is used for foods having di!erent scienti"c names (e.g., &&cat"sh''). Likewise, one may not recognize some terms used by people in other parts of the world or maybe even within the same country. The situation is further confused by homonyms, synonyms, identical brand names for di!erent products, and culinary or technological terms. As most databases employ di!erent methods of identifying foods, it is di$cult to exchange data between countries, between organizations within the same country, or even between workers in the same institution. This paper reviews existing food identi"cation systems used in food composition and consumption databases with the 0889}1575/00/040529#10 $35.00/0  2000 Academic Press