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

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PWC-2006-TC13-015u.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC13 - Measurements in Biology and Medicine

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