Food composition tables (FCT) were validated against chemical analysis (CA) to assess energy, carbohydrate, lipid, protein and fibre content of the food consumed by Italian Army cadets. The absolute difference between FCT and CA in 2 separate weeks was < or = 0.7% for energy, < or = 4.1% for carbohydrates, < or = 2.9% for lipids, < or = 6.2% for proteins and < or = 31.6% for fibre. It is concluded that FCT can be used to assess energy, carbohydrate, lipid and protein but not fibre intake in this military community.