About the Data

FoodFactsUSA is built entirely from USDA FoodData Central — the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food composition database, covering branded packaged products, USDA-analyzed foods and standard reference foods. FoodData Central is released into the public domain (CC0); the USDA only asks that the source be cited.

Manufacturer-reported for branded foods

For branded products, the nutrition and ingredient information is supplied by the manufacturer or distributor as it appeared on the label. It is not the result of independent laboratory testing. Standard reference and USDA-analyzed foods are laboratory-measured.

Recipes change

Manufacturers reformulate products, and the label that was filed may be older than the box on the shelf. Every product page shows the date the record was published or last updated in FoodData Central.

Deduplication

The same product can appear multiple times in the source data. We merge duplicates, drop records with no usable nutrition data, and publish the cleaned set in stages — well-known brands and categories first, then the long tail.

Not dietary advice

We report what a food contains — "12 g of sugar per serving" — and never tell you whether to eat it. For dietary guidance, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian.