SAFoods steering committee

After a meeting late October 2001, the Steering Committee had been reconverted to becoming the all new SAFCoD Project Management Committee. A decision was made that the Management system was to change to a smaller functional unit, being driven by the country's nutritional needs/priorities and with involvement purely on a project basis.

• The MRC (Medical Research Council) was instrumental in inviting all national stakeholders, and organising a national symposium in September 1995, to ascertain the need for a national food composition database. There was a unanimous decision to form a Steering Committee to promote and drive this initiative. The SAFCoD (South African Food Composition Data) Steering Committee was formed on 15 November 1995
• SAFCoD involves representatives from: the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, 4 national science councils, the food industry, and various user groups (Dietetics Association, Nutrition Society, Consumer Union & Food Science and Technology Association).
• The MRC is mandated to compile the South African food composition tables.
• The highlights of SAFCoD achievements in the past 3½ years include:
  • Involvement in the 1st and 2nd ECSAFOODS training course on the production and use of food composition data in nutrition. These courses are fundamental in promoting collaboration between countries of the ECSA region (18 countries), and promoting food composition activities in each country.
  • Attendance of the 3rd International Food Database conference and COST Action 99 workshops that were held at the FAO headquarters in Rome, July 1999.
  • Dr Hettie Schonfeldt of the Agriculture Research Council, South Africa, a member of SAFCoD’s Steering and Management committees, was appointed as the new ECSAFOODS coordinator (1999).
• SAFCoD also maintains a dynamic mailing list to communicate with all national & international role players.
• In 1998 SAFCoD drafted a new business plan with the 3 new working sub-committees to focus on:
  • Funding
  • Data Generation & Analysis, and
  • Products (user needs & compilation issues).