Food sampling concerns the selection of the individual units of food, food products or bulk foodstuffs from the food supply or source, whether it be from the land, market place, manufacturing/food outlet or from the homes of the members of the study population (field sample). One of the main objectives of food sampling is to provide representative mean values for individual components (nutrients) in foods.

Food sampling is a critical step in the generation of food composition data of high quality. Analytical costs are high and should the wrong sampling protocol be followed the analysis could be a waste of time and money.

A schematic overview of the stages involved in the sampling plan for food analysis is shown below to serve as a guideline for compiling a sampling protocol for a specific study.

Identify food to be analysed

Identify regions/areas/sites for sampling

Determine and collect the most used foods/recipes/cooking methods per region/sampling area

Isolate the places and times to select samples

Identify nutrients to be analysed

Identify analytical laboratory and methods for analysis

Identify the representative field sample amount (g) required to be collected

Determine the sample size

Identify analytical sample amount (g) required for analyses
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