Key Foods: Setting Priorities for Nutrient Analyses

The Nutrient Data Laboratory is responsible for developing authoritative nutrient data bases that contain a wide range of food composition values for the United States’ food supply. This requires, in addition to other activities, updating and revising the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Standard Reference, the electronic counterpart to Agriculture Handbook No. 8, and supplying nutrient values for the Nationwide Food Surveys. However, with more than 5,200 food items in the data base and a complete nutrient profile costing approximately $2,000 for one sample, the analysis of every food item for every nutrient to meet user requirements is impossible. Consequently, priorities for analyzing foods and nutrients must be determined. Procedures using food consumption data and nutrient values for developing the Key Foods list are explained. Key Foods have been identified as those food components that contribute up to 80% of any one nutrient. When total nutrient contributions from these 527 Key Foods are aggregated, they account for approximately 90% of the nutrient content of the U.S. diet for the 30 nutrients examined. These Key Foods will form the core of the USDA future nutrient analyses contracts. The list of Key Foods as major food contributors of various nutrients is presented.