Korean Food Nutrition Database API - MFDS 식품영양성분 Calories

Korean Food Nutrition Database API: MFDS Calories & Nutrients (식품영양성분)

Get official nutrition facts for Korean food as clean, English JSON / CSV / Excel: calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, sodium and 150+ nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids) for Korean dishes like bibimbap and kimchi jjigae, for packaged products like Shin Ramyun, and for raw ingredients.

The data comes from the Food Nutrition Database of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS, 식품의약품안전처), the official Korean government source, published on the public data portal data.go.kr. It covers about 347,000 foods: roughly 9,000 generic reference foods and 338,000 branded products, updated continuously.

Search in English or Korean. Common English words (kimchi, bibimbap, tteokbokki, bulgogi, ramen, tofu...) are translated to Korean automatically, and every food name comes back with a romanized version.

What you can use it for

• Diet, fitness and calorie-tracking apps: add Korean dishes and Korean supermarket products that global food databases miss.
• Meal planning and recipe nutrition: per-100 g values plus serving and package weights.
• AI assistants and LLM tools: a reliable, structured source for "how many calories are in tteokbokki?" questions.
• Health research: sodium, sugar and fat content of Korean diets, by category or brand.
• Food import and product research: compare packaged products by maker, category, import status and country of origin.

Input

Field	Example	Notes
foodNames	["bibimbap", "김치찌개", "신라면"]	Korean names, or common English names from the built-in dictionary (~130 words). The source matches names that contain the text. Empty = list by category or maker only.
maxItemsPerQuery	10	Popular words match hundreds of foods ("김치" matches ~6,900). 0 = no limit.
foodType	reference	all, reference (generic averages, 품목대표) or branded (packaged products, 상용제품).
dataGroups	["dish"]	Optional: dish (prepared dishes, 음식), processed (packaged foods, 가공식품), raw (ingredients, 원재료성).
category	면 및 만두류	Optional major category, exact Korean name as in the source.
maker	농심	Optional manufacturer, partial match.
includeAllNutrients	true	Adds a nutrients object with every reported nutrient, its English name and unit.
maxItems	1000	Stop after N foods. 0 = no limit.

Example: generic nutrition values for popular Korean dishes

{ "foodNames": ["bibimbap", "bulgogi", "tteokbokki", "kimchi jjigae"], "foodType": "reference", "maxItemsPerQuery": 5 }

Example: every Nongshim product in the database

{ "maker": "농심", "foodType": "branded", "maxItemsPerQuery": 0, "maxItems": 0 }

Output example

Main nutrients are columns; all nutrients are in nutrients (shortened here). Amounts are per nutrient_basis (usually 100 g or 100 ml).

{
  "food_code": "D101-018000000-0001",
  "name_ko": "비빔밥",
  "name_romanized": "Bibimbap",
  "data_group": "Prepared dish (음식)",
  "food_type": "Reference food (품목대표)",
  "category_ko": "밥류",
  "nutrient_basis": "100g",
  "food_weight": "450.000g",
  "energy_kcal": 142,
  "protein_g": 6.86,
  "fat_g": 4.32,
  "carbohydrate_g": 18.84,
  "sugars_g": 0.05,
  "dietary_fiber_g": 2,
  "sodium_mg": 232,
  "saturated_fat_g": 0.95,
  "trans_fat_g": 0.06,
  "cholesterol_mg": 42.26,
  "nutrients": {
    "energy_kcal": { "name": "Energy", "value": 142, "unit": "kcal" },
    "vitamin_a_ug_rae": { "name": "Vitamin A (RAE)", "value": 73, "unit": "µg RAE" },
    "retinol_ug": { "name": "Retinol", "value": 9, "unit": "µg" }
  },
  "data_source_ko": "식품의약품안전처",
  "data_method_ko": "분석",
  "data_created": "2018-12-31",
  "data_updated": "2026-10-13",
  "source": "MFDS Food Nutrition Database via data.go.kr (식품의약품안전처_식품영양성분DB정보)",
  "query": "bibimbap"
}

A branded product row also has maker_ko (e.g. "(주)농심"), maker_romanized, item_report_no, imported, origin_country_ko and serving_reference (the official reference serving, e.g. "유탕면(용기) 80g").

Pricing

Pay per result: $1.00 per 1,000 foods, all nutrients included. A small start fee per run applies. You can set a maximum cost per run and the Actor stops when it is reached.

FAQ

How many calories are in bibimbap, according to official Korean data? The MFDS reference value is 142 kcal per 100 g (a 450 g bowl is about 640 kcal). Several variants exist (dolsot, yukhoe, by survey year), so you get each one with its code and date.

Can I search in English? Yes for common Korean dishes and ingredients (kimchi, bibimbap, japchae, samgyeopsal, ramen, tofu, soju...). Anything else: use the Korean name. The log tells you when an English word is not in the dictionary.

Why are there several rows with the same name? The database keeps separate entries per data source and survey (for example values per 100 g and per 100 ml, or different years). Use food_code, nutrient_basis and data_created to choose, or filter with foodType: "reference".

Are values per serving or per 100 g? Per nutrient_basis, which is almost always 100 g or 100 ml. Use food_weight (package or dish weight) or serving_reference to convert.

Does it include allergens or ingredient lists? No. This source covers nutrition composition only.

Do I need a data.go.kr API key? No. The Actor uses its own access to the official API.

Source and license

Data: 식품의약품안전처_식품영양성분DB정보 (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Food Nutrition Database), published on the Korean public data portal data.go.kr with license scope "이용허락범위 제한 없음" (no restriction on use, commercial use allowed). Every row names its source. Values are reproduced as published; this Actor is not affiliated with MFDS. Nutrition data is informational and not medical advice.