Crop, food, and feed composition studies are considered an essential part of the safety assessment of new crop varieties, including those developed through food biotechnology. Information obtained from such studies is used to assess similarities and differences in important nutrients and anti-nutrients. The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) has generated an online comprehensive crop composition database that provides up-to-date information on the natural variability in composition of conventional crops and provides a reference for comparing the composition of new crop varieties, including those developed by conventional methods and through biotechnology. This database was generated with crop composition data obtained from studies conducted by members of the agricultural biotechnology industry over a number of years at multiple locations worldwide. The information collected in the database includes data on numerous biochemical parameters, such as the amounts of proximates, amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, key vitamins, and anti-nutrients in each crop.

During the development of the crop composition database, ILSI obtained valuable feedback from government agencies, academia, and international organizations that contributed to the quality and usefulness of the database.

At this time the ILSI crop composition database includes information on the compositions of conventional crops. It is expected that data on biotechnology-derived crops will be included in the near future. The database is available for public use at no charge and can be accessed via the Internet at www.cropcomposition.org.