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| USDA National Nutrient Database | |
|---|---|
| Name | USDA National Nutrient Database |
| Established | 1894 (origins in USDA nutrition work) |
| Agency | United States Department of Agriculture |
| Jurisdiction | United States |
USDA National Nutrient Database
The USDA National Nutrient Database was the principal United States federal reference for nutrient composition of foods, maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture and widely used by Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and academic nutritionists. It served as a standardized source for nutrient values that supported dietary assessment tools used by agencies such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and programs administered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service. The database informed policy, labeling, research, and industry practice across institutions like the American Dietetic Association and international bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Origins trace to late 19th-century chemical analyses performed within the United States Department of Agriculture and collaborations with land-grant universities like Iowa State University and Cornell University. Systematic compilation accelerated during the 20th century alongside initiatives by the National Research Council and the Office of Dietary Supplements. Major milestones include publication of nutrient tables in printed form used by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the expansion of computerized datasets coinciding with projects at the National Agricultural Library. In the 2000s, integration with web services and linkage to dietary surveillance by CDC and research by Brown University and University of Minnesota researchers increased its prominence. Transition toward a unified platform culminated with the creation of USDA FoodData Central.
The database cataloged thousands of food items (branded and generic) with nutrient profiles including macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, and selected phytochemicals. Entries referenced food description systems analogous to those used by National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey dietary recalls and cross-referenced food codes applied in studies at Johns Hopkins University and University of California, Davis. Structure included food item identifiers, portion descriptions, nutrient value per 100 g, and metadata such as data sources and analytical methods used by laboratories including U.S. Food and Drug Administration-contracted facilities. Data hierarchies aligned with taxonomies used in databases at World Health Organization cooperative efforts and enabled interoperability with statistical programs common at institutions like University of Pennsylvania and University of Washington.
Data derived from laboratory analyses, literature compilations, industry submissions, and imputation methods. Laboratories following protocols by standards bodies such as the Association of Official Analytical Collaboration and methods developed by chemists at Agilent Technologies-partner labs produced values for proximate composition, amino acid scoring, and fatty acid profiles. Sampling designs referenced commodity production statistics from United States Census Bureau and agricultural surveys by Economic Research Service. Quality control frameworks mirrored practices in publications from American Chemical Society journals, and statistical treatments utilized procedures common in epidemiology programs at Columbia University and Yale University.
The database evolved through numbered releases; notable iterations included releases widely cited by researchers at Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the late 2010s the USDA consolidated resources into USDA FoodData Central, integrating prior legacy nutrient tables with branded food data and model foods to better serve stakeholders such as the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Updates reflected new analytical evidence from collaborations with industry partners like General Mills and research consortia including initiatives at Rutgers University. Versioning practices paralleled software release cycles used by data teams at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The database underpinned dietary assessment instruments used in population health research at CDC and randomized trials supported by National Institutes of Health. Public health nutritionists at agencies such as Health Resources and Services Administration relied on it for menu planning and nutrient standard setting used by School Nutrition Association programs. Food manufacturers and regulators referenced the data for nutrition labeling obligations enforced by Food and Drug Administration and for formulation research at corporate R&D centers like PepsiCo and Kellogg Company. Academics at University of Michigan and Penn State University employed the data in epidemiologic analyses linking diet to chronic disease outcomes.
Critiques focused on representativeness of sampled foods, timeliness of updates, and gaps in phytochemical and bioactive compound coverage noted by researchers at Stanford University and University of Colorado Boulder. Branded food variability and proprietary formulations limited accuracy for packaged products studied by investigators at Tufts University and Drexel University. Methodological limitations included imputations for missing nutrients and differences in analytical methods across contributing laboratories, concerns echoed in reviews by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine panels. Users also noted constraints in capturing regional or ethnic food preparations documented in ethnographic nutrition work at University of New Mexico and University of Hawaii.
Public access was provided via downloadable flat files, searchable web interfaces, and APIs designed to support integration with statistical packages used at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and software developed at Carnegie Mellon University. Data formats included CSV, JSON, and database dumps compatible with tools common at University of California, Berkeley research groups. Licensing permitted broad reuse by universities such as Michigan State University and NGOs like The Pew Charitable Trusts, while documentation and developer resources mirrored standards used by federal data portals at Data.gov.
Category:United States Department of Agriculture databases