Periodic Table of Food Initiative for generating biomolecular knowledge of edible biodiversity

Knowledge gaps in food composition are driven by the diverse nature of food itself, including variations caused by how it is produced, stored and distributed, and processed, coupled with technological and accessibility barriers . Within the planet’s edible biodiversity, an estimated 26,000 biomolecules occur, the overwhelming majority of which are unidentified and whose health effects are generally unknown, representing the ‘dark matter’ of nutrition.

The Periodic Table of Food Initiative addresses food biomolecular composition information gaps through a standardized, accessible and enabling platform based on analytical tools, data and capacity building. Data from 1,650 foods serve as starting point for demonstrating the capacity of this initiative to contribute to nutrition, health and food systems transformations.