FoodData Central USDA Global Branded Food Products Database (GBFPD) Documentation

USDA Global Branded Food Products Database (GBFPD) Documentation

Printable PDF - 221KB

U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center 10300 Baltimore Avenue RM. 111, BLDG. 307C, BARC-EAST Beltsville, Maryland 20705

Additional Branded Documentation

• Enhancing Information Transparency and Safeguarding Data Quality (PDF - 229KB)
• How a Unique Public-Private Partnership Has Helped Enhance Public Health and the Sharing of Open Data (PDF - 423KB)

Brief Description

The USDA Global Branded Food Products Database (GBFPD) was created by a Public-Private Partnership, with support from staff members of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture.

Information in the GBFPD is received from a number of food industry data providers, and these organizations are therefore responsible for the data. USDA supports the GBFPD by standardizing the presentation of the data.

The data in the GBFPD download file are updated twice each year, typically in April and October. Therefore, the data in this download will not reflect the monthly changes made to the online database application and API between these biannual updates.

Suggested Citation

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: USDA Global Branded Food Products Database. Version Current: April 2024. Internet: fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Disclaimers

Mention of trade names, commercial products, or companies in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation nor endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or others not mentioned.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Introducing the Global Branded Food Products Database

The USDA Global Branded Food Products Database (GBFPD) is the result of a Public-Private Partnership, whose goal is to enhance public health and the open sharing of nutrient composition of branded and private label foods provided by the food industry. Members of the Public-Private Partnership are:

• Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA (www.ars.usda.gov)
• Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (www.iafns.org)
• GS1 US (www.gs1us.org)
• 1WorldSync (www.1worldsync.com)
• University of Maryland, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (jifsan.umd.edu)

The GBFPD, which is hosted by USDA’s National Agricultural Library, is searchable and downloadable online at fdc.nal.usda.gov.

GBFPD Partner Roles

Companies submit product data to 1WorldSync through the Global Data Synchronization Network. The food industry organizations who supply the data—the data providers—are responsible for descriptions, nutrient data, serving size, and ingredient information supplied for the GBFPD. The submission of data to the GBFPD is voluntary. However, if a manufacturer or retailer participates, certain mandatory information and data, agreed upon by the Partners, must be submitted.

USDA standardizes the reported values by calculating nutrient values per 100 grams from those values provided per serving, which are taken from the Nutrition Facts Panel of the product.

Market Country

Designates the market country in which the identified product is available. Market countries in the GBFPD currently include United States, Canada and New Zealand. More market countries will be added as the USDA GBFPD expands globally.

Standardizing and Presenting GBFPD Data

Once the data providers submit the data, the University of Maryland’s Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, in collaboration with the USDA, reformats and standardizes the data so that the data presentations are consistent across the USDA food composition data types.

• Data are converted to a 100-unit basis, either gram (g) or milliliter (ml), depending on which was received from the data provider.
• When a nutrient’s measured value is provided, that value is used to calculate the 100-unit basis.
• If only a Percent Daily Value (%DV) is provided, the %DV value is used to calculate the 100-unit basis.
  • US Market:
    • With the changes to the US Nutrition Facts Panel published in May 2016 and effective January 2020, manufactures are now required to provide nutrient values per serving, for certain nutrients, in addition to Percent Daily Value (%DV). For these records, the nutrient values per serving will be used to calculate values on a 100-unit basis and %DV will not be used.
    • Products submitted to the USDA GBFPD prior to the implementation of the January 2020 Nutrition Fact Panel Update may have been submitted with only a %DV. For these records, the 100-unit value is calculated from %DV using FDA’s Food Labeling Guide as published in 1994 and last revised in 2013 (https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/guidance-industry-food-labeling-guide)
  • Canadian Market:
    • Values calculated from %DV use reference or recommended amounts of nutrients set out in Health Canada’s Table of Daily Values (https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/technical-documents-labelling-requirements/table-daily-values.html).
  • New Zealand Market:
    • For records submitted without a measured nutrient value, the 100-unit value is calculated from %DV using FDA’s Food Labeling Guide as published in 1994 and last revised in 2013 (https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/guidance-industry-food-labeling-guide)
• Information on the method of calculation is available in the application program interface (API) or downloadable version. The derivation codes provide more context on how the conversion to a 100-gram or 100-milliliter was performed for each nutrient. For more information, see Further documentation is available via the FDC download datasets and the APIGuide.

Interpreting Missing Data, Zero Values and “Not a significant source of” Statements in GBFPD

• In some cases, values for particular nutrients are missing. This does not indicate a zero value. It means only that the data were not supplied by the data provider.
• In some cases, “Not a significant source of…” may appear for specific nutrients instead of a numerical value. This does not indicate a zero value. It means this statement was supplied by the data provider in accordance with Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) regulations.
• GBFPD values may differ from those obtained through analytical measurements because of label rounding, which is permitted by NLEA regulations. This may be an issue, especially with food products that have small serving sizes. Label rounding may introduce additional variability in the 100 g or 100 ml values.
• When label rounding results in a reported nutrient value of zero, the value on the 100 g or 100 ml basis will also be zero. However, reportable amounts of the particular nutrient in the food may be found through analysis.

Derivation of Nutrient Values

The “Data Prov. Deriv. Method” column in the user interface displays the nutrient derivation attribute that exists in the GDSN system. Data providers submitting data through 1WorldSync may use this attribute to indicate, on a per-nutrient basis, whether that nutrient value was analytically determined, calculated based on information from other sources (e.g., ingredient supplier or SR Legacy), or derived using a combination of analysis and calculation.

Update Log

Data providers (i.e., manufacturers) may update their product data with 1WorldSync at any time. Users of the GBFPD may view historical versions of a product and descriptions of changes that have been made by visiting that product’s “Update Log” tab in FoodData Central. Types of changes that are represented in the Update Log include edits to the product’s Description, Brand/Sub Brand Information, Nutrient values, and Ingredients List.

When a nutrient value is updated, this doesn’t necessarily reflect a product reformulation; it may be a result of resolving an error that was introduced during data submission by the data provider or during data processing and standardization.

Application Program Interface (API)

An API is available that developers can use to access the database with their own applications and be assured that they are linking to the most up-to-date version of the database. Details on using the API are provided on the FoodData Central website at fdc.nal.usda.gov. Further documentation is available via the API Guide.

Downloadable Files

The data in the GBFPD download files are current as of the website date as download files are only updated in April and October of each calendar year. Users can access the API to view monthly updated data in between download updates.

Downloadable files for the GBFPD are available as a CSV delimited ASCII file and as a JSON file.