nrmldays/virtuvian-fdc-nutrition-subset

Virtuvian FDC Nutrition Subset

An application-focused, tabular subset of the USDA FoodData Central (FDC) 2025-04-24 CSV release. Each row represents one unique FDC food record and includes its official FDC description, provenance metadata, direct FDC portion statistics where available, and nutrient amounts resolved directly by FDC nutrient ID.

This is an unofficial derivative dataset. It is not produced, reviewed, endorsed, or certified by the USDA, FDA, or any other government agency.

Dataset contents

• —446 unique FDC food records
• —217 nutrient columns, identified by FDC nutrient ID and unit
• —Official FDC food descriptions, data types, categories, publication dates, and record URLs
• —Summary statistics derived from direct FDC portion records when available
• —A machine-readable field manifest at documentation/field_manifest.csv

The data are provided as a single train split solely for Hugging Face loading convenience. It is not a machine-learning training/test partition.

Source and license

The upstream source is the USDA FoodData Central 2025-04-24 downloadable CSV release. FoodData Central data are published under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal dedication. USDA asks users to cite FoodData Central as the source.

This release, including its selection, schema, normalized-name field, generated URLs, portion summaries, and documentation, is also dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0 Universal. See LICENSE.

Source documentation:

• —https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/data-documentation/
• —https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/api-guide/
• —https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Suggested source acknowledgement:

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2025-04-24 release. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

Selection and exclusions

The identifier list for this subset was initially produced by automated name matching in a private food-taxonomy project. This public release contains only records resolved to valid FDC identifiers and replaces private-project labels with official FDC descriptions. Rows are deduplicated by fdc_id and sorted by that identifier.

The release intentionally excludes:

• —blood-type classifications
• —benefit or recommendation levels
• —automated name-match confidence scores
• —source-taxonomy names, categories, wording, ordering, and unmatched records
• —custom cooking-method recommendations
• —manually corrected or overridden nutrient values
• —category-based default portion estimates

The confidence field in the private working data measured automated name-match similarity; it did not measure scientific, nutritional, or clinical confidence. It is not included here.

Field notes

Nutrient columns use the pattern nutrient_<fdc_nutrient_id>_<name>_<unit>. Values are taken directly from FDC's food_nutrient.csv for the selected food and nutrient IDs. Blank values mean no corresponding value was present in that source snapshot; they do not mean zero.

portion_min_g, portion_median_g, portion_max_g, and portion_mean_g summarize direct records in FDC's food_portion.csv after excluding weights below 1 g or above 1,000 g. These are descriptive observations, not recommended serving sizes. portion_examples includes up to three direct FDC portion descriptions.

canonical_name_normalized is a lowercase alphanumeric normalization of the official FDC description. The authoritative human-readable label is canonical_name.

Intended uses

Suitable uses include food search, nutrition-data prototyping, schema experiments, data-quality research, and educational analysis. Verify important values against the linked FDC record and current authoritative guidance before relying on them.

Limitations and risks

• —This is a selected subset, not a complete or statistically representative sample of FoodData Central.
• —Selection reflects the needs of the private project that produced the initial identifier list and may introduce topic and coverage bias.
• —FDC records span several data types and publication dates; measurement methods, coverage, and missingness vary.
• —Product or company names may appear inside official FDC descriptions. Their appearance identifies a food record and does not imply affiliation or endorsement. Third-party trademarks are not licensed by CC0.
• —Nutrition values can change between FDC releases and may not describe a particular product, preparation, portion, or person.
• —The dataset has not been clinically validated and must not be used to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease or to generate individualized dietary advice.
• —No personal data or user records are included.

Health and safety notice

This dataset is informational and is not medical or dietary advice. Do not infer health effects from food names or nutrient values alone. For allergies, medical conditions, pregnancy, medication interactions, or therapeutic diets, consult a qualified clinician and current primary sources.

Version

• —Dataset version: 1.0.0
• —Source snapshot: FoodData Central 2025-04-24
• —Generated: 2026-08-14