Plant Equivalent of Optimum Food Basket for Iran Society

One of the indicators for determining the health of a society is the quantity and quality of consumed food by the people, that is defined in terms of the optimum food basket. In order to analyse the food system of a region, the food production should be compared with the optimum food basket. Therefore a unit that can be used both in measuring food needs and food production is necessary, therefore the food basket was converted to its plant equivalent. The food basket that is equated in this research is the food basket approved by the Ministry of Health. Each of the components of the food basket is converted into its plant equivalent using mathematical calculations. The food basket, which is categorized into four groups including 1) energy suppliers 2) poultry 3) livestock and 4) fruits, vegetables and legumes has been equated and the plant equivalent of the optimum food basket for Iranian people was measured: 370 grams of vegetables, 280 grams of fruits, 26 grams of  legumes, 135 grams of rice hull, 58 grams of rapeseed grain, 60 grams of soybean grain, 5 grams of sunflower grain,  30 grams of rapeseed meal, 815 grams of wheat grain, 94 grams of wheat straw, 77 grams of wheat bran, 147 grams of barley grain, 62 grams of barley straw, 147 grams of sugar beet root, 233 grams of sugar cane shoot, 30 grams of sugar beet pulp, 4.3 grams of sugar beet molasses, 243 grams of fodder corn, 806 grams of alfalfa and other forage crops, 258 grams of corn grain, 51 grams of soybean meal, 37 grams of ready concentrate and 36 grams of other materials. This is the first report about the plant equivalent of the optimum food basket in Iran. The results can be used in food and nutrition macro policies (production, exports, imports, subsidies and pricing).