Wild foods contribute to the food security of multiple communities in tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, wild foods are not regularly considered in the planning of strategies for food and nutrition security mainly due to the lack of technical and/or scientific knowledge so that they can be considered suitable for human consumption. This paper proposes a multidisciplinary method that estimates the potential of wild foods as alternative resources when planning interventions in favour of food and nutrition security in tropical forest territories. When designing the method, four dimensions were identified in science, technology and innovation (STI) that define this potential as well as ten assessment criteria. The wild foods chosen for applying the method were Alibertia patinoi (a fruit commonly known as Borojó) and Proechimys semispinosus (Mouse of thorns), which are two of the main wild foods traditionally used by human communities in a tropical forest territory in the northwest of Colombia. In both cases, although there are significant advances in STI, compliance with some criteria is still required to regard them as viable alternatives for nutrition and food security within this territory. This research is useful for promoting the inclusion of wild food in food security programmes for communities where this food is already included in their traditional pattern of consumption and identifies the progress needed in STI to achieve this purpose. It may also promote the early recognition of possible traditional and cultural practices with high risk of transmission of pathogenic elements by the handling and/or inadequate consumption of wild foods. This early recognition could contribute to the prevention of diseases of wild animal origin, including those of rapid global spread.

野生食品有助于非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲热带地区多个社区的粮食安全。然而，在粮食和营养安全战略规划中并未经常考虑野生食品，这主要是由于缺乏技术和/或科学知识，无法将其视为适合人类消费。本文提出了一种多学科方法，在规划有利于热带森林地区粮食和营养安全的干预措施时，评估野生食物作为替代资源的潜力。在设计该方法时，确定了科学、技术和创新 (STI) 中定义这种潜力的四个维度以及十个评估标准。选择用于应用该方法的野生食物是Alibertia patinoi（一种俗称 Borojó 的水果）和Proechimys semispinosus（荆棘鼠），它们是人类社区在西北部热带森林地区传统上使用的两种主要野生食物。哥伦比亚。在这两种情况下，尽管科技创新取得了重大进展，但仍需要遵守一些标准才能将其视为该地区营养和粮食安全的可行替代方案。这项研究有助于促进将野生食物纳入社区的粮食安全计划，这些食物已经纳入其传统消费模式，并确定了科技创新实现这一目的所需的进展。它还可以促进尽早认识到可能存在的传统和文化习俗，这些习俗可能因野生食品的处理和/或消费不足而传播致病因素的高风险。这种早期认识可能有助于预防野生动物源性疾病，包括那些在全球迅速传播的疾病。