Where the numbers come from

The datasets

How one source of truth is chosen

USDA stopped updating SR Legacy in 2018, but many foods still exist only there, and some foods appear in several datasets. These rules make sure each food shows one consistent set of values.

Generic foods

1. Foundation Foods wins. Foundation Foods and SR Legacy records for the same food share an NDB number. When both exist, the page shows the Foundation record, and links to the old SR Legacy record redirect to it.
2. SR Legacy fills gaps. Foundation Foods measures fewer nutrients for some foods. A nutrient missing from Foundation Foods is taken from the matching SR Legacy record and marked with a dagger (†) on the label.
3. SR Legacy stands alone when it's the only record. A food with no Foundation record is shown from SR Legacy, labeled as USDA's final 2018 reference values.
4. FNDDS is its own food. FNDDS describes foods as eaten, such as mixed dishes. It isn't merged with other datasets, and the page lists the ingredient foods USDA used.
5. Calories. Foundation Foods publishes Atwater-factor energy instead of the older calorie figure. The specific Atwater value is used when available, then the general one.

Branded products

1. Barcodes link the sources. USDA and Open Food Facts records are matched by GTIN/UPC/EAN barcode, so each product has one page at /Foods/Product/{barcode}.
2. The newest USDA record wins for the U.S. label. USDA's data comes from the manufacturer, so it's preferred for the Nutrition Facts panel. When USDA has several versions of a product, the most recently published one is used.
3. Open Food Facts fills gaps and adds what USDA lacks. Missing nutrients, package photos, Nutri-Score, NOVA group, and non-U.S. label data come from Open Food Facts.
4. Open Food Facts stands alone when USDA doesn't have the product. This is common for products sold outside the U.S.
5. Disagreements are shown, not hidden. When the two sources differ by more than 10% on a key nutrient, or list different serving sizes, the page says so.

Labels

• The U.S. Nutrition Facts panel follows the FDA's 2016 format and rounding rules (21 CFR 101.9), with the current Daily Values.
• The international nutrition declaration follows the EU/UK format (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011): per 100 g or 100 mL, energy in kJ and kcal, salt instead of sodium (salt = sodium × 2.5), and % Reference Intake. It appears when Open Food Facts reports the product is sold outside the U.S., and it shows Open Food Facts' values as declared.
• The Nutrient details table shows unrounded values with the dataset for each one.

Nutrient rankings

Searches such as “high in iron”, “low in vitamin K”, or “high protein, low fat” list the top ten generic foods for those nutrients.

• Data. USDA's search API can't sort foods by nutrient amount. So the site downloads USDA's published Foundation Foods and SR Legacy datasets, the same data the API serves, and ranks them itself. It checks daily for a new Foundation Foods release. Foundation values win over SR Legacy for the same food, as on food pages.
• Per 100 g. Foods are compared by amount per 100 grams. Each result also shows the amount in a typical serving when USDA lists one, along with the % Daily Value per 100 g.
• Several nutrients. For searches with more than one nutrient, each food is scored by its weakest percentile across the criteria, so the top results do well on all of them.
• Everyday foods. By default, rankings leave out dried and powdered forms, spices and herbs, baby foods, ingredients such as flours, gums, and extracts, and regional specialty foods. “Low” searches also skip items under 10 calories per 100 g, such as water. Because many foods tie at zero, they show one food per food group. Choose Include everything to lift these filters.
• One of each kind. In both views, similar foods count once, and only the highest-ranked one is shown. All organ meats (liver, kidney, spleen, giblets) are one kind, whatever the animal. Meats are grouped by food group: beef; pork; poultry; lamb, veal, and game; and sausages. All fish are one kind. Mollusks and crustaceans are one kind each. Fats and oils, breakfast cereals, spices and herbs, dry beans and lentils, yeasts, brans, seaweeds, and roes are each one kind too. Tree nuts are one kind and seeds are another, including their butters and milks. A fruit or vegetable is grouped with its juice or sauce. Common product words group the rest: cookies, chips, chocolate, cheese, and so on.
• Brand-name products aren't ranked, in either view. SR Legacy includes about a thousand brand-name products from 2018, such as fortified cereals, candy bars, and fast-food items. Their values reflect one manufacturer's formulation, not the food in general. They're recognized by the brand name USDA writes in capitals and left out. USDA's Branded Foods database has several hundred thousand products and can't be downloaded and ranked this way. Open Food Facts' crowd-sourced values contain too many unit errors to rank reliably.

Personal daily targets

The daily targets page works out what one person needs from the National Academies' Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), the source behind the FDA's Daily Values. Your details are kept only in a cookie in your browser. Food pages then show each nutrient per serving as a percentage of your targets.

• Calories. The Estimated Energy Requirement equations from Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy (2023), which use age, sex, height, weight, and one of four activity levels. Children's equations add the energy cost of growth. From the 2nd trimester (week 14), a pregnancy equation applies, which adds 9.16 calories per week of gestation and 200 calories of energy deposition, the figure for a healthy weight before pregnancy. Breastfeeding adds 400 calories a day for a baby 0 to 6 months old and 380 for a baby 7 to 12 months old.
• Vitamins and minerals. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for your life-stage group, or the Adequate Intake (AI) where there's no RDA. Groups follow the DRI tables: children 1–3 and 4–8, then males and females 9–13, 14–18, 19–30, 31–50, 51–70, and over 70, plus pregnancy and breastfeeding for ages 14 to 50. Targets for babies under 1 aren't covered.
• Upper limits. A serving that has more than the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) on its own is flagged. ULs are only used where they cover food. The ULs for vitamin A (preformed retinol only), vitamin E, niacin, and folate (synthetic forms from supplements and fortified foods), and magnesium (supplements and medicines only) don't, so they aren't compared with foods.
• Protein is the RDA per kilogram of body weight: 0.8 g/kg for adults, more for children and during pregnancy (1.1 g/kg) and breastfeeding (1.3 g/kg). The RDA is a minimum. For adults, the targets page also shows the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines' suggestion of 1.2–1.6 g/kg.
• Fat and carbohydrate use the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges, as a share of your calories: 20–35% fat for adults (25–35% for ages 4–18, 30–40% for ages 1–3) and 45–65% carbohydrate. As with the FDA's Daily Values, percentages compare fat with the top of its range and carbohydrate with the middle.
• Fiber is the Adequate Intake of 14 g per 1,000 calories, applied to your calories.
• Limits. Sodium uses the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction intake from Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019): reduce intake if above 2,300 mg for ages 14 and up, less for younger children. Saturated fat uses the Dietary Guidelines for Americans limit of less than 10% of calories, from age 2. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines recommend no amount of added sugars, no more than 10 g in one meal, and none for children under 10, so added sugars get no daily percentage; a serving over that meal limit is flagged instead. The DRIs set no target for cholesterol or trans fat beyond “as low as possible”, so those have none here.
• How food values compare. USDA reports vitamin A as retinol activity equivalents, vitamin E as alpha-tocopherol, and folate as dietary folate equivalents when available, matching the DRIs. Niacin is reported as preformed niacin, while the RDA counts niacin made from tryptophan too, so niacin percentages run low.

DRIs are for healthy people and describe intake averaged over time. They aren't medical advice. If you have a health condition, follow your care team's guidance.

Citations

Each food page lists the exact records it used. The general citations are:

This site isn't affiliated with or endorsed by USDA or Open Food Facts. Nutrition information is for general reference and isn't medical or dietary advice.