Data Type Comparison
| Foundation Foods | Experimental Foods | Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) | Branded Foods | SR Legacy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Data and metadata on individual samples of commodity/commodity-derived minimally processed foods with insights into variability | Data on food published in peer-reviewed journals supported by or in collaboration with USDA | Data on nutrients and portion weights for foods and beverages reported in What We Eat in America, NHANES | Data from labels of national and international branded foods collected by a public-private partnership | Historic data on food components including nutrients derived from analyses, calculations, and published literature |
| Data Source | USDA: based on analytically derived values | Researchers: based on scientific publications | USDA: compiled based on values from FDC data types | Manufacturers: based on food label information | USDA: based on Standard Reference originally available via the USDA National Nutrient Database (NNDB) |
| Update Frequency | April and October of each year | April and October of each year as data are available | Every two years in concert with WWEIA, NHANES release | Monthly | Final release April 2018 |
FoodData Central Publications
USDA's FoodData Central: what is it and why is it needed today?
Documentation Links
These links provide documentation for the following data types:
- Foundation Foods
- Experimental Foods
- Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS)
- Branded Foods
- Standard Reference (SR) Legacy (PDF - 174KB)
Note: Earlier FNDDS releases and corresponding documentation are available on the Food Surveys Research Group website.
For more information about each of the different types of data in FoodData Central, see the FAQ page.