aid: fooddata
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/fooddata/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: FoodData Central
kind: government
description: >-
  USDA FoodData Central is a comprehensive food composition database and REST API providing
  nutritional data for over 600,000 foods. The service covers multiple distinct data types
  including Foundation Foods, SR Legacy, Survey Foods (FNDDS), Branded Foods, and
  Experimental Foods. All data is released under CC0 1.0 Universal (public domain) and
  the API is free to use with a data.gov API key. FoodData Central is operated by the
  USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and receives twice-annual updates for
  Foundation Foods and monthly updates for Branded Foods.
image: https://kinlane-productions.s3.amazonaws.com/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
  - Food
  - Nutrition
  - USDA
  - Government
  - Health
  - Diet
  - Nutrients
  - Public Domain
created: '2026-06-13'
modified: '2026-06-13'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
  - aid: fooddata:fooddata-central-api
    name: FoodData Central API
    description: >-
      REST API providing access to nutrient composition data for 600,000+ foods across
      Foundation Foods, SR Legacy, Survey Foods (FNDDS), Branded Foods, and Experimental
      Foods databases. Supports individual food lookup by FDC ID, batch retrieval of up
      to 20 foods, paginated food listing with filtering and sorting, and keyword search
      with brand filtering. Authentication requires a free data.gov API key. Standard
      rate limit is 1,000 requests per hour per IP address.
    humanURL: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide
    baseURL: https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1
    tags:
      - Nutrition
      - Food
      - Nutrients
      - Diet
      - Branded Foods
      - Foundation Foods
      - FNDDS
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/json-spec?api_key=DEMO_KEY
      - type: OpenAPI
        url: https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/yaml-spec?api_key=DEMO_KEY
      - type: Signup
        url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-key-signup
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide
  - type: Portal
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
  - type: Signup
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-key-signup
  - type: About
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/about-us
  - type: Contact
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/contact
  - type: FAQ
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/faq
  - type: DataDownload
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/download-datasets
  - type: ChangeLog
    url: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/log
  - type: X
    url: https://twitter.com/usda_ars
  - type: Plans
    url: plans/fooddata-plans-pricing.yml
  - type: RateLimits
    url: rate-limits/fooddata-rate-limits.yml
  - type: FinOps
    url: finops/fooddata-finops.yml
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com