Review

An interactive project under EU COST Action 99/Eurofoods

Project latest: May 2000

Eurocode 2 version 99/2

The Eurocode 2 version 99/1 proposals were discussed at a workshop held by the COST Action 99 - Eurofoods Working Group on Food Description in December 1999. Eurocode 2 has been further revised on the basis of the comments made to form version 99/2 of the classification. Your comments on the current version would be very welcome. Please send them either using the project feedback form or by e-mail to Ian Unwin.

Details and discussion of the revisions can be accessed through:

The material on version 99/1 remains available through:

A position paper is being prepared which will outline the present status of the Eurocode 2 food coding system and discuss the options for further development and implementation. In a related development, the December workshop developed a proposal for a simplified system of grouping categories known as the Euro Food Groups which are to be tested for their effectiveness in the international comparison of national food consumption data sets.

Introduction to the project

The Eurocode 2 Food Coding System was developed within the overall Eurofoods project "to serve as a standard instrument for nutritional surveys in Europe and to serve the need for food intake comparisons" (Poortvliet et al., 1991, page 4). In 1993, a draft coding manual (Poortvliet & Kohlmeier, 1993) was produced and an evaluation of the system was undertaken (van Kappel, 1993).

Further development and use of the system since then has been limited but there remains a requirement for an effective tool for recording food consumption data in Europe. Therefore the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (Veterinær- og fødevaredirektoratet; VFD) has initiated a project for the review and modification of the existing Eurocode 2 classification to remove or reduce some problems identified in the evaluation and elsewhere. The approach taken has been to propose a modified Core Classification covering the higher levels of food classification, leaving the details at the food item level to be resolved in further work once the basic structure has been agreed.

The project is now in its third phase, the phases so far being:

Report preparation
Presentation and discussion at a COST Action 99 workshop in Wageningen, October 1998
Final development of the Core Classification.

This Website is a key feature of the third phase, supporting the review and discussion of the proposals for the final Core Classification, and of the documents that will form the future documentation of the revised Eurocode 2 Food Coding System. If you would like to contribute to this work, please see the further details of the informal Eurocode 2 Discussion Group or e-mail to Ian Unwin.

Further extensions and revisions

The Position Paper, incorporating Eurocode 2 core classification version 99/2, was finalised in March 2000 and is awaiting publication. Practical implementations are progressing and as a result significant areas of the classification are being extended to the next level down, and also some further revisions are being made as a result of this practical testing. The results of this ongoing work are available for review under the title of Eurocode 2 version 00/1.