Food database

How to use this food database

Start with a food name, brand, or category in the search box above. The database covers hundreds of foods indexed from USDA sources, and results update as you type. Each result shows calories, protein, carbs, fat, and fiber per 100 g so you can compare options on equal footing.

A few search tips:

• Use specific terms. "Chicken thigh boneless skinless cooked" returns a tighter result set than just "chicken."
• Try synonyms. "Sparkling water" and "seltzer" may surface different entries.
• Search by preparation. "Salmon raw" and "salmon cooked" matter, because cooking changes water content and concentrates calories per gram.

For each food, you can log it to your daily diary or save it as a custom food. Pair your searches with the macro calculator to translate individual foods into daily totals, or use the food diary to build meals and track micronutrients across a full week.

Understanding nutrition labels

Every packaged food sold in the United States carries a Nutrition Facts label regulated by the FDA under 21 CFR 101.9. The label was redesigned in 2016, with mandatory compliance by January 2020 for large manufacturers and January 2021 for smaller ones. The redesign reflected updated FDA priorities: added sugars now have their own line, vitamin D and potassium became mandatory, and vitamins A and C dropped off because deficiencies are now rare.

Three numbers deserve attention before anything else.

Serving size is the foundation. Every other value on the label is calculated for that serving. A 20 oz bottle listed as one serving gives you the full picture. The same bottle listed as 2.5 servings means you have to multiply to see what you actually drink. The 2016 rule forced serving sizes to reflect what people typically consume in one sitting, but tricks persist. Always check the "servings per container" line.

The % Daily Value column is a quick gauge. The FDA defines Daily Values based on a 2,000-calorie diet for adults and children over 4. As a rule of thumb, 5% DV or less per serving is low and 20% DV or more is high. Use it to compare two products side by side. A yogurt with 30% DV of calcium is a meaningful source. One with 4% is not.

The ingredient list is ordered by weight. The first three ingredients make up most of the product by mass. If sugar (under any of its 60-plus names: dextrose, maltodextrin, fruit juice concentrate, agave) sits in the top three, the food is effectively a dessert regardless of what the front of the package claims. For a longer walkthrough, see our reading nutrition labels guide.

The USDA FoodData Central database

FoodData Central is the USDA's integrated food and nutrient database, launched in April 2019 and maintained by the Agricultural Research Service. It replaced the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR Legacy), which had anchored most American nutrition research and consumer apps since the early 1990s.

FoodData Central consolidates five distinct data types:

• Foundation Foods: foods with full nutrient profiles plus metadata on source, processing, and analytical methods.
• SR Legacy: the historical reference database. SR28 was the final release in 2015.
• FNDDS: the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, used to code What We Eat in America surveys.
• USDA Branded: industry-supplied data from food manufacturers, currently the largest single source by item count.
• Experimental Foods: research-grade entries for emerging ingredients and cultivars.

Data quality varies by source. Foundation Foods use laboratory analysis with documented methods. SR Legacy values are mostly imputed from older analyses. Branded data is self-reported by manufacturers and is only as accurate as the label on the package. The USDA updates FoodData Central continuously, with new Foundation Foods releases roughly twice a year and Branded data refreshed as companies submit updates. Our methodology page explains which FoodData Central source we pull from for each food type in this database.

Macronutrients explained

Macronutrients are the energy-providing nutrients your body needs in gram quantities: protein, carbohydrate, fat, and the often-overlooked water and fiber. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025 set the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs) as 10 to 35 percent of calories from protein, 45 to 65 percent from carbohydrate, and 20 to 35 percent from fat.

Protein supplies 4 calories per gram and provides the amino acids your body uses to build and repair tissue, synthesize enzymes and hormones, and maintain immune function. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 0.8 g per kg of body weight per day, the minimum to prevent deficiency. For active people and older adults, 1.2 to 1.6 g per kg is a more useful target. Calculate your target with the protein calculator.

Carbohydrate also supplies 4 calories per gram. The RDA is 130 g per day, the minimum needed to supply glucose to the brain. Most people eat more. Fiber is the indigestible carbohydrate fraction, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend 14 g per 1,000 calories, about 28 g on a 2,000-calorie diet. Most Americans average 10 to 15 g per day, well below target. The fiber calculator estimates your goal based on total intake.

Fat supplies 9 calories per gram, more than twice the energy density of protein or carbohydrate. Fat carries fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), builds cell membranes, and supplies the raw material for steroid hormones. The Dietary Guidelines cap saturated fat at 10 percent of calories. Unsaturated fats from nuts, seeds, olive oil, and fatty fish should make up most of your intake.

Water is technically a macronutrient because you need it in large amounts, though it carries zero calories. The National Academies set Adequate Intake at 3.7 L per day for men and 2.7 L for women, with about 20 percent coming from food. The water intake calculator personalizes this for body weight and climate.

For a complete daily target across all three energy macros, the macro calculator is the fastest entry point. To work backward from a weight goal, the calorie deficit calculator pairs with the TDEE calculator for a daily target.

Micronutrients to track

Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals your body needs in milligram or microgram amounts. They do not supply energy, but they enable every metabolic pathway that does. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) maintains the most authoritative plain-language fact sheets on each one.

Iron carries oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. The RDA is 8 mg for adult men and 18 mg for women aged 19 to 50, rising to 27 mg in pregnancy. Heme iron from meat, poultry, and fish is well absorbed at 15 to 35 percent. Non-heme iron from plants, eggs, and fortified grains absorbs at only 5 to 12 percent, but vitamin C eaten in the same meal can triple that. Spinach, lentils, fortified cereal, and beef liver are all concentrated sources. Run your intake through the iron calculator.

Calcium builds bone mineral density and triggers muscle contraction and nerve signaling. The RDA is 1,000 mg for adults 19 to 50, rising to 1,200 mg for women over 50 and men over 71. Dairy is the densest source, but calcium-fortified plant milks, tofu set with calcium sulfate, sardines with bones, and kale all contribute. Bioavailability varies: milk calcium absorbs at about 30 percent, while spinach calcium absorbs at only 5 percent due to oxalates. See the calcium calculator.

Vitamin D regulates calcium absorption and immune function. The RDA is 15 mcg (600 IU) for adults 1 to 70, rising to 20 mcg (800 IU) at 71. Fatty fish, fortified milk, and UV-exposed mushrooms are the main food sources, but sunlight drives most synthesis in summer. The NIH ODS flags vitamin D as one of the nutrients most likely to fall short in American diets. Estimate yours with the vitamin D calculator.

Magnesium participates in over 300 enzymatic reactions, including ATP utilization and DNA repair. The RDA is 400 to 420 mg for men and 310 to 320 mg for women. Pumpkin seeds, almonds, spinach, black beans, and dark chocolate are dense sources. Subclinical deficiency is common, particularly in people with type 2 diabetes or heavy alcohol intake. The magnesium calculator gives a personalized target.

Potassium is the principal intracellular cation, balancing sodium to regulate blood pressure. The Adequate Intake is 3,400 mg for men and 2,600 mg for women. Most Americans fall short. Potatoes, beans, bananas, yogurt, and leafy greens top the list. The potassium calculator and the electrolyte balance calculator help track the sodium-to-potassium ratio, which the FDA emphasizes for cardiovascular health.

Vitamin B12 keeps nerves insulated and red blood cells dividing. The RDA is 2.4 mcg for adults. Animal foods are the only natural source, so vegans and many older adults (who lose intrinsic factor) need fortified foods or supplements. Check your intake with the vitamin B12 calculator.

Zinc supports immune cell function, wound healing, and taste perception. The RDA is 11 mg for men and 8 mg for women. Oysters dwarf every other food at 32 mg per 3-ounce serving. Beef, pumpkin seeds, lentils, and chickpeas are everyday sources. The zinc calculator handles the daily tally.

For a full check across all your vitamins and minerals, the DRI comprehensive calculator is the most complete tool on the site.

Common food database limitations

No food database is exact. Understanding the limits keeps you from over-trusting every gram.

Brand variation is the biggest source of error. Two brands of "Greek yogurt" can differ by 40 percent in sugar and 25 percent in protein. Branded data in FoodData Central reflects what each manufacturer reported, which may not match the container in your fridge if the recipe changed. Always verify against the actual label when precision matters.

Cooking changes everything. A raw 100 g chicken breast is about 76 percent water. Cooked, it loses 20 to 30 percent of its water weight, so the same tissue now weighs 70 to 75 g and looks denser per 100 g. The nutrient content per calorie has not changed, but the per-gram values have. Use the cooked entry when you weigh cooked food.

Bioavailability is not in the database. The 2.4 mg of iron in 100 g of cooked spinach absorbs at perhaps 5 percent, while the 1.0 mg in 100 g of lean beef absorbs at 25 percent. Databases report what is in the food, not what your body actually extracts.

Rounding compounds. FDA rules in 21 CFR 101.9(f) allow calories to round to the nearest 5 (or 10 above 50), fat to the nearest 0.5 g below 5 g, and sodium to the nearest 5 mg below 5 mg. Across a day of 30 logged items, rounding can swing totals by several hundred calories and several hundred milligrams of sodium.

Database lag is real. FoodData Central Branded entries can sit for months or years before a company resubmits after a recipe change. Foundation Foods get updated faster but cover fewer items.

Practical tips for food tracking

Precision costs time. Aim for "good enough" on most days and exact on the days that matter.

Weigh solid foods on a digital kitchen scale whenever possible. Volume measures (cups, tablespoons) for solids like rice, flour, or peanut butter can be off by 20 percent depending on how tightly you pack. Liquids are fine to measure by volume.

Estimate when weighing is impractical. Restaurant meals, dinner parties, and travel are not the place to pull out a scale. Learn a few visual anchors: a 3-ounce serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards, a half cup of cooked rice is about the size of a tennis ball, a tablespoon of oil is about the tip of your thumb. Estimates within 100 to 200 calories are usually close enough.

For mixed dishes, use the recipe analyzer to enter each ingredient and portion. The tool handles the math. For restaurant meals, our restaurant calculators cover the major chains with ingredient-level customization, so you can build a Chipotle bowl or a Panera sandwich as you actually ordered it.

Spread the work. Logging takes 90 seconds per meal once you build a habit, but only if your common foods are saved. The food diary remembers your recent entries, and the custom foods tool lets you save family recipes and recurring meals. The meal planner turns those saved meals into a full week.

Track something every day, even if you cannot track everything. Two weeks of partial data reveals more than two days of perfect data, because the patterns (low fiber, low iron, skipped breakfast) show up in averages, not single days.