Research Guides: Food Science: Food Value Resources

USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
(National Agricultural Library, USDA) Find nutrient information on over 8,000 foods using this new and improved search feature. You can now search by food item, group, or list to find the nutrient information for your food items. In addition, you can now access the USDA Ground Beef Calculator from the same search page.
Hawaii Foods
(CTAHR & Cancer Center, UH Manoa) The mission of Hawai‘i Foods is to improve the health of Hawai‘i’s people by providing food and nutrient information to assist them in making healthier dietary choices. Because the foods eaten in Hawai‘i reflect the cultural range of its people, this website contains nutrient information on foods typically found in Western, Asian, Pacific Islander, and other “local” diets.
The Pacific Islands Food Composition Tables, 2nd ed.
(Cecily Dignan, Barbara Burlingame, Shailesh Kumar and William Aalbersberg. 2004. FAO) Food tables for a large variety of foods consumed in Pacific Islands.
International Food Composition Table/Database Directory
(FAO, UN) An international selection of food composition information, many only available in print. Check Hawaii Voyager for local availability of print items.
Canadian Nutrient File
(Health Canada) The Canadian Nutrient File (CNF) is the standard reference food composition database reporting the amount of nutrients in foods commonly consumed in Canada. The database can help you find values for nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, protein, energy, fat and many more.
NUTTAB 2010
(Food Standards Australia New Zealand) NUTTAB 2010 contains nutrient data for 2,668 foods available in Australia and up to 245 nutrients per food. NUTTAB 2010 is available free of charge in two formats—online as a searchable database—and as electronic database files.
New Zealand Food Composition Database
(Ministry of Health New Zealand and the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited) NZFCD contains nutrient information on more than 2500 foods including moisture, ash, carbohydrate, protein, fat, cholesterol, caffeine, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and fibre. Information can be downloaded or searched online. Requires free registration.

Evaluating Web Sites

Publishing on the Web is very different than publishing in print — the traditional medium for scientific literature. Anyone can publish a Web page without anyone evaluating the accuracy or quality of the information. Reviews by peers, reviewers, editors, and publishers are not often applied to Web sites.

The sole responsibility for evaluating the scholarly content of a Web site rests with the Web site user.

Traditional evaluation criteria used for print resources and Web specific criteria are both useful as indicators of quality and should considered when examining Web sites.

Evaluation Criteria

1. Authorship: Is the author identified? What are the author’s credentials? For example, does the site include the author's position and institutional affiliation? Is the URL for an educational institution (.edu) or government agency (.gov)?

2. Accuracy: Can the data be verified from other sources? Does the author have an obvious bias?

3. Audience: Is the site intended for scholars or professionals, for lay people, or for students?

4. Currency: Does the Web site include the date it was created and/or updated? Are the links current?

5. Coverage: Does the site state its intended scope? Is it designed to cover an entire subject, or to give detailed information on one aspect?

6. Relative Value: How does it compare to other sources of similar information? Are there other more accurate or complete sources - possibly in print format?