Abstract
This paper discusses some of the issues and problems of using Latin American food composition tables. Little effort has been made to upgrade the quality of the data and increase the number of nutrients per food since 1960, when most of the tables were published. Four main issues which may cause problems in the interchange of food composition data are discussed: (I) identification, classification, and description of the sample; (2) specific factors that influence the chemical composition of the food; (3) processing factors, and (4) analysis of the sample. The paper concludes that the analytical values of the foods of one region can be used in another region if there is a process of selection that takes into consideration all possible information on the sample. Increased communication between countries would enhance the use of foreign data.