Fifteen Years Of The Usda's National Food And Nutrient Analysis Program: Improving National Food Composition Data

Abstract

Since 1997, the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP), a USDA‐NIH collaboration, has improved the data quantity and quality in USDA food composition databases through the analysis of nationally representative samples of foods and beverages. The focal database is the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR), the authoritative food composition database in the US and the international research community. An updated sampling plan based on 2010 US Census data is being implemented to account for recent demographic changes. Foods are collected nationwide from retail locations, composited, and sent with QC materials to commercial labs/cooperators for analysis. Results, self‐weighted by market share, often show wide variation among retail brands, restaurant chains, and botanical varieties when compared to values of unknown/non‐representative sampling or to older data. Sodium in French fries, for example, varies widely among top restaurant chains sampled under NFNAP (46–521 mg/100g, p<.0001). As manufacturers reformulate their foods in response to public health concerns (e.g., trans fatty acids, sodium) it is imperative for food composition databases to keep current. Since its inception, 1440 foods (representing almost 100,000 data points) have been added or updated in SR; these data are critical to health researchers, nutrition policy makers, the food industry and consumers.