INTEGRATION OF METROLOGICAL APPROACHES INTO FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

Venkatesh Iyengar
Abstract:
Society, as a client and as an end-user, looks at quality assurance (QA) in terms of net economic benefits gained by solving real-life problems that contribute to national development. As a measurable parameter, economic benefit is a reliable indicator of sustained attention and public support for QA. In the world of food as a trading commodity, we are moving towards a global but borderless-trade situation. Food safety being a prime concern under this scenario, reliable food and nutritional (F&N) measurements take centre stage in decision-making. A measurement process characterized by metrological concepts enhances the reliability of analytical results and ensures sustainability to the QA process. These steps infuse authority to the F&N analytical results, and to the ensuing public health decisions from well-designed projects. Integration of metrological concepts into the F&N measurement system strengthens the very base of nutrition education for young professionals (scientific and technical), improves institutional measurement infrastructure, and contributes to the much-needed capacity development in F&N areas. The World Bank and several other United Nations Agencies are now embarking on human capacity building as a critical focal point in the context of national development. Simply put, QA promotes economic benefits. This is the challenge to be met in practice in the field.
Keywords:
metrology in biology, physiological and metabolic parameters, food and nutritional metrology, harmonization of chemical measurements, nutrition education, and analytical quality assurance
Download:
PWC-2006-TC13-015u.pdf
DOI:
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Event details
Event name:
XVIII IMEKO World Congress
Title:

Metrology for a Sustainable Development

Place:
Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL
Time:
17 September 2006 - 22 September 2006