ARS | Publication request: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24

Submitted to: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
Publication Type: Research Technical Update
Publication Acceptance Date: September 28, 2011
Publication Date: September 28, 2011
Citation: Haytowitz, D.B., Lemar, L.E., Pehrsson, P.R., Exler, J., Patterson, K.K., Thomas, R.G., Nickle, M.S., Williams, J.R., Showell, B.A., Khan, M., Duvall, M., Holden, J.M. 2011. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24. Available: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964.

Interpretive Summary: The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 (SR24) is the major source of food composition data in the United States and provides the foundation for most public and private sector databases. SR24 contains nutrient data for over 7,900 food items for up to 146 food components, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. It replaces the previous release, SR23 issued in September 2010. SR24 includes new data for a number of foods analyzed under the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP); a program designed to 1) identify those foods that are the major contributors of nutrients to the U.S. diet 2) conduct a probability-based nationwide sampling of those foods and 3) analyze the samples under USDA supervised laboratory contracts. A major focus of this effort was to add and update foods which are major contributors of sodium to the diet, as well as provide data on formulated foods, produced by the food industry to replace food items in the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) which previously relied on home-prepared recipes. Numerous foods were also updated with new data obtained from the food industry or by Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) standard calculation procedures. Major changes made to the SR database since the last release include the addition over 300 new foods and their nutrient profiles. Among these are: 139 retail beef cuts derived from the rib and plate, canned and frozen ravioli (with and without meat), frozen chicken nuggets (white meat only and mixed white/dark meat), pasteurized process cheese, microwavable chili with beans, deli potato salad with egg, pulled pork in barbecue sauce, tortilla chips, corn dogs, cinnamon buns, garlic bread, pancake mix, tofu, and selected items from various quick service restaurants. Foods with updated nutrient values include: fresh pork loin cuts (raw and cooked); dark meat chicken cuts (raw and cooked); several types of pizza (cheese, pepperoni, and sausage) from quick service restaurants; ready-to-eat breakfast cereals from several major manufacturers; many snack foods, particularly the sodium values, as manufacturers reformulate to lower the sodium content; instant breakfast cereals; a number of commercially available mixed dishes, including: frozen bean and cheese burritos, canned pasta with tomato sauce, and canned chili with beans. A field “AddMod_Date” has been added to the nutrient data file, indicating when a nutrient value was either added to the database or last modified. In this release Notes on Foods were added for the following sections: Cereal Grains and Pasta, Legumes and Legume Products, Nut and Seed Products, and Vegetables and Vegetable Products. These expand upon the notes released earlier on Beef, Eggs, and Pork. The Notes give additional information about the foods such as the definitions of lean and fat and a brief description of NDL research projects conducted to generate nutrient data. Update files are provided for users who have incorporated SR23 or earlier releases into their systems and want to perform their own updates. The data are available to search or download from the Nutrient Data Laboratory Web site (www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata) on the Internet. Currently, the Web site is being accessed over 120,000 times a month. Major applications of SR include the development of the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Surveys (FNDDS) by USDA’s Food Surveys Research Group. The FNDDS is used to process 24-hour dietary recalls from the survey What We Eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Technical Abstract: The USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24 contains data for over 7,900 food items for up to 146 food components. It replaces the previous release, SR23, issued in September 2010. Data in SR24 supersede values in the printed Handbooks and previous electronic releases of the database. Major applications of SR include the development of the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Surveys (FNDDS) by USDA’s Food Surveys Research Group. The FNDDS is used to process 24-hour dietary recalls from the survey What We Eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Major changes made to the SR database since the last release include the addition over 300 new foods and their nutrient profiles. Among these are: 139 retail beef cuts derived from the rib and plate, pasteurized process cheese, frozen chicken nuggets (white meat only and mixed white/dark meat), canned and frozen ravioli (with and without meat), microwavable chili with beans, deli potato salad with egg, pulled pork in barbecue sauce, tortilla chips, corn dogs, cinnamon buns, garlic bread, pancake mix, tofu, and selected items from various quick service restaurants. A complete list of the added food items is in the ADD_FOOD file. Foods with updated nutrient values include: fresh pork loin cuts (raw and cooked); dark meat chicken cuts (raw and cooked); several types of pizza (cheese, pepperoni, and sausage) from quick service restaurants; ready-to-eat breakfast cereals from several major manufacturers; many snack foods, particularly the sodium values, as manufacturers reformulate to lower the sodium content; instant breakfast cereals; a number of commercially available mixed dishes, including: frozen bean and cheese burritos, canned pasta with tomato sauce, and canned chili with beans, These can be found in the CHG_NUTR file. A few breakfast cereals and other brand name products that are no longer on the market have been deleted. A complete list of deleted food items is in the DEL_FOOD file. A field “AddMod_Date” has been added to the nutrient data file, indicating when a nutrient value was either added to the database or last modified. In this release Notes on Foods were added for the following sections: Cereal Grains and Pasta, Legumes and Legume Products, Nut and Seed Products, and Vegetables and Vegetable Products. These expand upon the notes released earlier on Beef, Eggs, and Pork. The Notes give additional information about the foods such as the definitions of lean and fat and a brief description of NDL research projects conducted to generate nutrient data. The database is being provided in the two relational formats (ASCII and Microsoft Access). There are four principal files; Food Description, Nutrient Data, Gram Weight, and Footnotes and six support files: Nutrient Definition, Food Group Description, Source Code, Derivation Code, Sources of Data File, and Sources of Data Link File. Update files for the database, intended for users who have obtained SR23 or earlier releases and wish to perform their own updates are provided. An abbreviated file is provided as a flat file and as a MS Excel spreadsheet. The abbreviated file does not include values for alcohol, caffeine, phytosterols, starch, theobromine, vitamin D2, vitamin D3, individual amino acids, individual fatty acids, individual sugars, fluoride, betaine, individual tocopherols (other than a) and tocotrientols, menaquinone-4, and dihydrophylloquinone. The data are available to search or download from the Nutrient Data Laboratory Web site on the Internet http://www.ars.usda.gov/nutrientdata.