The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI), supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, is mapping the molecular blueprint of food to transform how we eat and farm for the benefit of people and the planet. At UC Davis’s Innovation Institute for Food and Health (IIFH), we are proud to serve as the North American Center of Excellence, where our researchers developed the standardized methods now used in every PTFI Center of Excellence worldwide. These shared standards ensure that data generated in California, Ethiopia, or Australia can be directly compared and scaled globally.
The PTFI is powered by scientists, data experts, nutritionists, and innovators across continents who share a single belief: if we can truly understand what’s inside our food, we can design better food systems for people and the planet.
At UC Davis, teams of highly trained researchers have worked to establish the standardized methods now used in every PTFI Center of Excellence worldwide. These procedures ensure that when food is studied in North America, Africa, Europe, or Asia, the results are comparable, reliable, and actionable.
“We standardize and develop a measuring stick for what is in food… When UC Davis is looking at food, and our collaborators in Wageningen, Ethiopia, or Australia are looking at food, we’re looking at it in the same way.”
— Selena Ahmed, PTFI Global Director
Already, UC Davis researchers have characterized over 500 foods, identifying more than half a million proteins alongside metabolites, lipids, carbohydrates, and minerals. This work isn’t abstract science, it is laying the foundation for new innovations in how we produce, process, and enjoy food.
“We have at least five different omics that together provide a holistic analysis of food at the molecular level in a manner that has never been done before.”
— Mariana Barboza, IIFH Research Program Manager
Every dataset, every breakthrough reflects the expertise of the people behind it, scientists trained in cutting-edge omics, passionate about nutrition, committed to translating discovery into solutions that matter.
Current research at UC Davis uses these PTFI-enabled platforms to explore how farming practices, from conventional to regenerative, shape the molecular composition of foods, and to link those differences to human health outcomes through clinical dietary studies. By pairing molecular analysis with sustainability metrics and machine learning, researchers are building predictive models that will ensure our meals and food products are both highly nutritious and environmentally sustainable.
The vision is simple but profound, the foods we love can be better for our bodies, for our communities, and for the planet. With PTFI’s molecular insights, companies can reformulate for nutrition without sacrificing taste, foundations can design culturally relevant dietary interventions, and policymakers can make evidence-based decisions that promote both health and biodiversity.
This isn’t about inventing new foods, it’s about reimagining what’s already on our tables.
By creating the world’s first open-access molecular atlas of food, PTFI is leaving behind more than research. It’s building a global resource that entrepreneurs, food companies, and communities can use for decades to come. What makes this initiative powerful is not only its scientific rigor but also the passion of its people. At IIFH, we see the Periodic Table of Food Initiative as more than a project, it’s a movement of highly trained, experienced, and dedicated individuals working together to make food better for all.
And we invite you – industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and researchers – to join us. Together, we can transform molecular insights into real-world innovations that will shape the foods we love for generations to come.
