Evaluation of the food composition tables: Beyond the divergence of intakes

Dear Editor, We ponder upon the study of Ali M. et al (2020) published recently comparing the two local Food Composition Tables (FCTs) of Bangladesh through measuring nutrient intakes of their study. Just assessing the intake differences fall short of the proper evaluation of the FCTs. The evaluation of the FCTs includes its stringent selection, which primarily underscores the data quality rather than the nutrient intake analysis. It is evident that the quality of FCT hinges on methodologies of its development, for example, food species, sample selection, analytical methods used for nutrient estimation, units of reporting and ways for dealing with missing nutrients (Greenfield & Southgate, 2003; Merchant & Dehghan, 2006). Apart from the evaluation issues, we have reservations on the methodologies to study the agreement and conclusion.