Australian Food Composition Database  

Each food published in Release 1 of the Australian Food Composition Database has a unique numeric identification code called the Public Food Key (the Key). This is the first time we have introduced the Key which will replace the previously used Food ID. The Key will remain the same for each equivalent food across our food composition publications. For example, full fat cow’s milk will now use the Key ‘F005634’ in Release 1 and in all future releases. The same Key will also be used in any future AUSNUT or Nutrition Panel Calculator (NPC) publications.

The introduction of the Key will help users compare nutrient data for the same food over publication releases. It will also allow for more streamlined updates for users of our database.

For Release 1, a matching file  has been provided to link published NUTTAB 2010 Food IDs to Release 1 Keys.

It is important to remember that not all foods in NUTTAB 2010 will have a matching food in Release 1 and vice versa. This is because some of the foods reported in NUTTAB 2010 may no longer be available or the data was considered too old and potentially no longer representative of the current product, for example, due to changes in fortification, sodium level or fat type. Release 1 also contains foods for which data has previously been unavailable such as quinoa and rocket.

Since the publication of NUTTAB 2010, we have commissioned 17 laboratory analyses which have generated new data for over 200 foods. This data has now been validated and incorporated into Release 1 to:

• update existing data for highly consumed foods such as flour, milk and bread
• provide data for foods which have not previously been published in our reference database such as rocket, gluten free flour and green tea.

For a number of foods in the Australian Food Composition Database, Australian food companies and organisations have provided us with nutrient data for their products. This data may have been generated by analysis or by other means. We incorporated this data into our food composition databases in accordance with our standard validation methodologies.

Nutrient data provided includes:

• a range of nutrients in goat, beef sausages and beef shin provided by Meat and Livestock Australia
• trans fatty acid data from analyses conducted under the Implementation Subcommittee for Food Regulation Coordinated Food Survey Plan        
• resistant starch and fibre in a range of foods provided by Goodman Fielder, Grain Growers Ltd and Ingredion ANZ Pty Ltd
• a range of nutrients in Australian Sweet Lupin provided by Grain Growers Ltd, Co-operative Bulk Handling Limited, Lupin Foods Australia and the Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council
• a range of nutrients in selected grains and legumes provided by the Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council
• vitamin D in regular and vitamin D mushrooms provided by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association.

Further detail of all data which has been updated since NUTTAB 2010 or is reported for the first time in Release 1 is available in the Food group information file.

For the first time we have provided a core set of nutrients in our reference database. This means every food in the database will have a value for every one of these 54 nutrients. These nutrients align with those reported in
AUSNUT 2011‒13  (a set of files that enables food, dietary supplement and nutrient intake estimates to be made from the 2011‒13 Australian Health Survey), plus vitamin D. Some foods may have additional non-core nutrients reported where quality data is available. There are 256 nutrients reported in Release 1.

More information on all of the nutrients included in Release 1, including a list of core nutrients, is available in the Nutrient details file.

For the first time, the nutrients for some foods are reported by common serve sizes in addition to per 100 g/mL in our online searchable database. Reporting nutrient values per 100 g for solid foods and per 100 mL for liquids allows foods to be compared to each other, however it does not reflect how much of a food someone eats. For example, one serve of a soft drink may be a 375 mL can or a 600 mL bottle, rather than 100 mL.

We have also included a custom amount option which allows users to calculate the nutrient profile based on any gram or millilitre amount.

All foods included in the NUTTAB 2010 database underwent a thorough review process to determine the appropriateness of the food for inclusion in Release 1. Consideration was given to the age and quality of the data, and the availability of the food in the current market. For example, there were a number of restaurant foods which were analysed in the 1980s and 1990s which are no longer commonly available or are likely to have changed significantly in their composition (i.e. fat types or country of origin of ingredients). Other foods excluded based on the age of the data include selected offal products, confectionery, goats milk, and meat and fish pastes.  As a result, there are fewer foods included in the Release 1 database.

The NUTTAB 2010 database provided data on vitamin D, amino acids, trans fatty acids and indigenous foods in separate files. All of this data has been reviewed and is now incorporated into the Release 1 database as appropriate. For indigenous foods, the data was derived in the 1990s and only for a limited number of nutrients. In order to report data for all of the core components, large portions of the profiles would not be based on analytical data. As such, these foods have not been reproduced in Release 1.

Each food in Release 1 is assigned a 5-digit classification code. The food groups and food sub groups used in Release 1 are the same as those used for AUSNUT 2011-13. The same classification system will be used in all subsequent reference and survey databases.

Information on foods reported in Release 1 summarised by group is available in the Food group information file.