The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) is the world’s leading organization working on the topic of Nutrient Density. Established in 2010 with a mission to “Increase quality in the food supply,” we coined the term “Bionutrient” to refer to those nutrients in food that are present in high levels in crops grown well, and in low levels in crops grown poorly.
In 2019, the Real Food Campaign (RFC) lab worked with 100 grower partners and 15 citizen scientists to process 1,800 samples from 20 states in the US to test 6 crops: carrots, spinach, tomatoes, kale, lettuce and grapes. As samples enter the lab they are tested with the Bionutrient Meter then extracted and analyzed for antioxidants, polyphenols, and 17 minerals (2018 results). Our lab’s accomplishments over the past two years were a major step in advancing the Bionutrient Food Association’s mission of increasing quality in the food system.
The BFA is now creating a new administrative role for a Citizen Science Coordinator in order to expand our Citizen Science initiative. The initiative began two years ago with a data partner project to engage consumers in data collection, and in 2019 we launched our grower partner program, bringing growers into the process as well. During this time, participants have helped us to document management practices, environmental conditions, soil health, plant health, carbon sequestration, nutrient density and farm viability. We can now begin to look scientifically for the
connections between these factors.
