Periodic Table of Food Initiative

Why does PTFI exist?

Food is at the center of society’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. 

Diet-related diseases account for 1 in 5 deaths around the world and dominant farming practices compromise the health of our planet. We need to transform food= systems through data-driven solutions for healthier people and a healthier planet.

New agricultural practices, globalization, and processing technologies have enabled large quantities of food to be produced in recent decades, but quality and diversity have been lost along the way. Now, food is at the center of society’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, including diet-related chronic disease, the need for sustainable and regenerative agriculture, biodiversity conservation, equity, and climate change. 

Given the tremendous scientific and technological advances over the past few decades, it is hard to believe how little we still know about what is in the food we eat. Technical challenges have prevented comprehensive, standardized, and accessible data on food composition. For example, most national food composition databases provide data on fewer than 150 biomolecules in food despite the 26,000+ food biomolecules estimated in the scientific literature, including macronutrients, micronutrients, specialized metabolites and exogenous compounds. 

For the first time in history, with advanced analytics and a global coordinated approach, we can imagine knowing all the biomolecules in food and how they vary with environmental conditions and food system practices. With comprehensive profiling of all biomolecules in food along with where and how they were grown, the PTFI seeks to enable stakeholders across the food system to develop solutions to the challenges we face around food, in ways that best support human and planetary health in a changing world. 

We use the latest technologies alongside diverse sources of knowledge and expertise to map the quality of the world’s edible biodiversity, and educate food and health stakeholders around the world to make use of it. Our ultimate goal is to empower these stakeholders to use food quality data to identify solutions for nourishing food systems and reversing the climate crisis.