About twenty years ago, there was a recognition in Europe that real benefits would flow from coordinating the manner in which food composition tables were produced in the various countries of Europe. Subsequent development of computerised nutritional data bases has further highlighted the potential advantages of working together. Such cooperation could lead to improved quality and compatibility of the various European nutrient data bases and the values within them. This realisation was one of the driving forces behind the development of the Eurofoods initiative in the 1980's when those people...