MedDiet4Health
Food Classification
Have you ever wondered how the food we eat is categorized?
Food can be divided into two large categories according to their origin.
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Planted-based, derived from plants and
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Animal-based, derived from animals.
However, there are many additional categories of food¨according to the food group to which they belong, to the processing they have undergone, to the size and type of processing, to their certification type achieved, as well as in accordance totheir chemical property, to their function, to their essentiality, to their concentration and to their nutritive value.
In this WebQuest we'll focus on these classifications as understanding them is essential for making healthy choices and appreciating the diversity of what we eat.
A first simple food classification scheme is described in the following photo
source: https://www.brainkart.com/article/Classification-of-Food_37944/
Most complicated schemes of food classification have been developed so to include classification based to the processing foods have undergone and the size and type of processing. The most well known are the IFSAC (https://www.cdc.gov/ifsac/media/pdfs/2024/07/IFSAC-FoodCategorizationHierarchy_HighRes_Poster_2024.pdf ) and NOVA (https://ecuphysicians.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/78/2021/07/NOVA-Classification-Reference-Sheet.pdf) schemes.
Take a look on them and in the folllowing resources:
http://www.fao.org/3/ca5644en/ca5644en.pdf
http://www.fao.org/gsfaonline/foods/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ifsac/projects/food-categorization-scheme.html
so to collect more information regarding the food classification and make a collaborative presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gEaAPm77hJ7JIRBtfSld7Oe2ZIM6FH-ErSCB9uL4KDA/edit?usp=sharing.
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