Through the collaborative efforts of the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI), Department of Agriculture (DOA) of Thailand, and the Institute of Nutrition of the Mahidol University (INMU), the 2024 Evaluation Workshop on the Establishment of Asian Food Composition Database (AFCD) project was conducted on May 27-31, 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. One of the programs of AFACI, AFCD aims to support the implementation of national, regional, and local food consumption surveys in order to assess food production, quality of available food, food intake, and other relevant food consumption factors. This workshop intends to assess the accomplishments of the projects implemented by each member country vis-à-vis its objectives through presentation of country reports highlighting their outputs and experiences.

Participants were warmly welcomed by INMU director, Dr. Chalat Santivarangkna while DOA Deputy Director-General, Dr. Patchayapon Meunchang, officially opened the workshop. Dr. Lee Kyung-Tai, Secretary General of AFACI, gave his congratulatory remarks afterwards expressing his heartfelt appreciation to DOA, INMU, and all AFCD Principal Investigators for making the workshop possible and the achievement of the program objectives a success.

To provide helpful insights in the effort to develop a comprehensive food composition database (FCD), Dr. Sapin Chotivichien of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health shared their experience in using FCD as one the country’s food and nutrition policy. Moreover, Dr. Fernanda Grande, a consultant of FAO, also contributed to the workshop by presenting the challenges in the process of developing and using FCD.

The next steps and follow-up initiatives on AFCD were also discussed during the workshop. Capping off the activity was the participants’ visit to Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom.