USDA FoodData Central Scraper

Search the USDA FoodData Central database — the official U.S. government source for food nutrition data — and extract detailed nutrition facts for 300,000+ food products.

What does USDA FoodData Central Scraper do?

This actor searches the USDA's authoritative nutrition database and returns complete nutrition profiles for food products. FoodData Central is maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and includes data from branded products, survey data, and reference analyses. For each food, it extracts:

• Macronutrients: calories, protein, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars
• Minerals: sodium, calcium, iron, potassium
• Vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D
• Cholesterol: total cholesterol per serving
• Product info: brand, ingredients list, UPC barcode, serving size, food category
• All nutrients: complete list of 14+ nutrients with values and daily value percentages

Why use USDA FoodData Central Scraper?

• Official USDA data — the most authoritative nutrition database in the United States
• 300,000+ foods — branded products, survey items, standard reference, and foundation foods
• Complete nutrition — macros, vitamins, minerals, and daily value percentages
• Brand-level data — filter by brand owner (Tyson, General Mills, etc.)
• Multiple data types — branded products, standardized survey data, and detailed analyses
• Ingredients lists — full ingredient text for branded products
• Free API — no authentication required for standard usage

Use cases

• Nutrition apps: Power calorie counters, meal planners, and diet trackers
• Food tech startups: Build nutrition databases for recipe and menu platforms
• Health research: Analyze nutrient content across food categories and brands
• Meal planning: Find foods that match specific nutrition goals
• Label compliance: Verify nutrition facts for food labeling requirements
• Fitness platforms: Calculate macros for workout and diet tracking apps
• Restaurant menus: Estimate nutrition information for menu items
• Brand analysis: Compare nutrition profiles across competing products

How to use

1. Go to the USDA FoodData Central Scraper page on Apify Store.
2. Enter one or more search queries (e.g., "chicken breast", "greek yogurt", "almonds").
3. Optionally filter by data source type or brand owner.
4. Set the maximum number of results per query (1–200).
5. Click Start and download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
searchQueries	Array	Search terms for foods (required). Example: "chicken breast", "almonds"
dataType	String	Filter by data type: "Branded", "Survey (FNDDS)", "SR Legacy", "Foundation"
brandOwner	String	Filter by brand owner name. Example: "Tyson Foods", "General Mills"
maxResults	Integer	Max foods per query, 1–200 (default: 50)

Output example

Each food in the dataset contains these fields:

{
  "fdcId": 2092152,
  "description": "CHICKEN BREAST",
  "dataType": "Branded",
  "brandOwner": "Tyson Foods, Inc.",
  "brandName": "TYSON",
  "ingredients": "CHICKEN BREAST WITH RIB MEAT, WATER, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: VINEGAR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SALT",
  "servingSize": 112,
  "servingSizeUnit": "g",
  "householdServing": "1 SERVING",
  "foodCategory": "Poultry, Chicken & Turkey",
  "packageWeight": "20 oz/567 g",
  "gtinUpc": "023700038326",
  "publishedDate": "2021-10-28",
  "calories": 120,
  "protein": 22,
  "fat": 3,
  "saturatedFat": 1,
  "transFat": 0,
  "carbohydrates": 1,
  "fiber": 0,
  "sugars": 0,
  "sodium": 450,
  "calcium": null,
  "iron": 0.72,
  "potassium": null,
  "vitaminA": null,
  "vitaminC": null,
  "vitaminD": null,
  "cholesterol": 65,
  "allNutrients": [
    { "name": "Protein", "value": 22, "unit": "G", "percentDailyValue": null },
    { "name": "Energy", "value": 120, "unit": "KCAL", "percentDailyValue": null },
    { "name": "Total lipid (fat)", "value": 3, "unit": "G", "percentDailyValue": 4 }
  ],
  "searchQuery": "chicken breast",
  "relevanceScore": 1237.1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-03T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Pricing

USDA FoodData Central Scraper uses a pay-per-event pricing model:

Event	Price
Run started	$0.001
Per food extracted	$0.001

Cost examples:

• 50 foods: $0.001 + (50 × $0.001) = $0.051
• 100 foods: $0.001 + (100 × $0.001) = $0.101
• 200 foods: $0.001 + (200 × $0.001) = $0.201

API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('YOUR_USERNAME/usda-fooddata-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['chicken breast', 'brown rice'],
    maxResults: 50,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(food => {
    console.log(`${food.description} - ${food.calories} cal, ${food.protein}g protein`);
});

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_API_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('YOUR_USERNAME/usda-fooddata-scraper').call(run_input={
    'searchQueries': ['chicken breast', 'brown rice'],
    'maxResults': 50,
})

dataset = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
for food in dataset:
    print(f"{food['description']} - {food['calories']} cal, {food['protein']}g protein")

Integrations

Connect USDA FoodData Central Scraper with other tools:

• Google Sheets — Export nutrition data to spreadsheets for analysis
• Slack / Email — Get alerts when nutritional data is ready
• Webhooks — Trigger downstream processing when extraction completes
• Zapier / Make — Connect to 5,000+ apps for automated nutrition workflows
• Amazon S3 / Google Cloud — Archive nutrition datasets

Tips and best practices

• Be specific — "boneless skinless chicken breast" returns more relevant results than "chicken"
• Data types — "Branded" has the most items (major brands); "Foundation" has the most detailed nutrient analysis
• Brand filter — use the exact brand owner name from USDA (e.g., "Tyson Foods, Inc.")
• Serving sizes — nutrition values are per serving; check servingSize and servingSizeUnit fields
• All nutrients — the allNutrients array contains every nutrient the USDA has for that food, not just the highlighted macros

Data source

All data comes from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's official food composition database. Data is public domain and freely available.

FAQ

Q: How often is the data updated? A: USDA FoodData Central is updated regularly. Branded food data is refreshed monthly.

Q: What's the difference between data types? A: "Branded" contains products from major food companies. "Foundation" provides detailed analytical nutrient data. "SR Legacy" is the classic USDA nutrient database. "Survey (FNDDS)" contains standardized food descriptions for dietary surveys.

Q: Are the nutrition values per serving or per 100g? A: Values are reported as provided by the USDA, typically per serving for branded foods and per 100g for reference foods.