TABULA™ 3.0 provides the most up-to-date picture of the Spanish food market, reporting the nutritional composition of more than 10,000 branded food and beverage products commercialized since 2024
· With this new version, TABULA™ is consolidated as a reference information source, providing scientific rigor and practical value for the evaluation of nutrition policies, the monitoring of product reformulation, and the promotion of healthier food environments.
· Compared with other Spanish food composition databases, TABULA™ provides detailed allergen data from ingredient lists and includes a specific search tool for gluten and lactose. In addition, when applicable, it records nutrition claims on total fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt, in accordance with current European regulatory standards.
· The development of TABULA™ 3.0 has involved the active engagement of food industry operators, a collaborative approach that remains relatively uncommon across Europe.
The CEU Food and Society Institute at CEU San Pablo University in Madrid (IuAyS-CEU; @IAS_CEU) presents TABULA™ 3.0, the latest release of the Spanish Food and Beverage Composition Tables. This updated version includes 10,013 products marketed in Spain between 2024 and 2025, thereby reaffirming the Institute’s commitment to maintaining a reliable and up-to-date nutritional snapshot of the Spanish food supply. The database enables researchers and policymakers to assess dietary intake and reformulation trends using information aligned with the current market offer.
A faithful snapshot of the post-reformulation food market
TABULA™ was developed to address a major gap: existing Spanish food composition tables did not adequately reflect changes in the national food market following recent food reformulation initiatives, which are essential to effectively address current nutrition and public health challenges. In 2023, the CEU Food and Society Institute launched the first version of the Spanish Food and Beverage Composition Tables, TABULA™, designed to provide systematically updated data based on nutrition labelling.
With this third version, TABULA™ continues to evolve as a dynamic, regularly updated resource, aligned with the needs of an ever-changing food market. TABULA™ 3.0 includes over 10,000 products — 3,500 more than the previous version — covering items marketed between January 2024 and July 2025. This expanded coverage provides a comprehensive and representative picture of approximately 80% of the current Spanish market.
New functionalities to enhance data retrieval and nutritional analysis
Compared with other Spanish food composition databases, TABULA™ provides detailed allergen data derived from ingredient lists and includes a specific search tool for gluten and lactose. In addition, where applicable, it records nutrition claims related to total fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods. The TABULA™ online search tool allows users to search and filter products by food and beverage category, brand, legal and trade name, nutrition claims, and the presence of gluten or lactose.
Future releases of TABULA™ will incorporate additional functionalities and applications to further enhance its utility as a reference tool for research, the food industry, and public health authorities. These developments aim to provide broader accessibility, improved analytical capacity, and updated information for monitoring reformulation, nutritional quality, and the sustainability of the Spanish food supply.
Standardization and traceability for research and public policy
All products included in TABULA™ have been classified according to two internationally recognized systems: the European Food Information Resource (EuroFIR) food classification and the World Health Organization (WHO) Nutrient Profile Model (NPM 2023) for the European Region. This dual classification ensures national and European data comparability and strengthens the methodological traceability of the database, facilitating its integration into public health projects, nutritional epidemiology research, and policy assessment frameworks.
Through this standardized and transparent approach, TABULA™ has become a trusted information source at the European level, contributing scientific rigor and practical relevance to the evaluation of nutrition policies, the monitoring of food reformulation, and the promotion of healthier dietary environments.
Scope and collaboration with the food industry
The dynamic nature of food markets, characterized by the continuous introduction and discontinuation of products, highlights the need for branded food composition databases such as TABULA™, which are essential tools for tracking food reformulation and market evolution.
In this context, direct collaboration with manufacturers and distributors has been fundamental. The development of TABULA™ 3.0 has involved the active participation of several food industry operators, a practice still relatively uncommon in other European initiatives. Although the responsibility for the accuracy of the nutrition labelling rests with the operators themselves, all data contained in TABULA™ has been verified to ensure label accuracy and current market availability of the products listed.
Critical nutrient content: sugars, saturated fats, and salt
The Spanish food market shows an overall improvement in the levels of fats, total sugars, and salt in many commonly consumed products. These findings derive from the first descriptive analysis based on TABULA™, published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis and developed by researchers from the CEU Food and Society Institute (@IAS_CEU) in collaboration with the “Nutrition for Life (N4L)” Research Group of Excellence (@NutritionCEU), under the direction of Professor Gregorio Varela Moreiras.
The results indicate that, across most food and beverage categories, the median content of critical nutrients targeted for reformulation—specifically sugars, saturated fats, and salt—falls below the high-content thresholds defined by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN). In contrast, categories such as “chocolate and sugar confectionery, energy bars, sweet toppings and desserts” and “edible ices”, characterized by concurrently high levels of sugars and saturated fats, exhibit a less favourable nutritional profile.
Technical information
Data collection for TABULA™ 3.0 was conducted through web platforms of both the food manufacturing and retail industries, covering the period from January 2024 to July 2025, and comprising a total of 10,013 products.
In keeping with its commitment to continuous updating and validation, the CEU Food and Society Institute encourages food industry operators to notify any product reformulations or composition changes via [email protected].
About the CEU Food and Society Institute (IuAyS-CEU)
The CEU Food and Society Institute (https://ias.ceu.es) promotes teaching and research on the social, scientific, and policy dimensions of food and nutrition. The Institute adopts an interdisciplinary approach to address the complex challenges of the food and nutrition system, combining expertise from various academic and professional fields.