Region specific foods were analyzed for 6 regions of the country to enable region specific nutritional and epidemiological data interpretation. About 160 discrete food constituents including bioactive compounds were analysed for 528 foods. The latest Indian food composition database funded by the ICMR covers all the key foods sampled from the entire country drawn from statistically valid sampling method. Therefore, all foods analyzed were selected using the key foods principle constructing the IFCT 2017. The method combines food consumption data with its nutrient composition, and ranking the foods by applying a scoring system to identify the key foods that contribute significantly to the diet in terms of their nutrients. One method to set priorities is the ‘key foods approach’ which is defined as those foods that contribute upto 75% of the nutrients intake by the population. Analyzing all the foods that are consumed in the country is not be feasible due to the prohibitive cost involved and thus it is essential to prioritize foods for compositional analysis. Indian cuisine varies widely across the country according to the region, culture and tradition, characterized by the use of different spices, vegetables, grains, fruits and a variety of animal source foods.
