The New Zealand Food Composition Database (NZFCD) is a reference database with the primary role to provide reliable nutrient values for foods commonly consumed in New Zealand. Plant & Food Research and the Ministry of Health jointly own the New Zealand Food Composition Database, the most comprehensive collection of high-quality nutrient data for New Zealand foods. The database is managed and maintained by dedicated Plant & Food Research staff. The majority of foods have been analysed in New Zealand with a smaller percentage of data coming from other sources such as recipe calculations or by borrowing from other countries. The NZFCD is a widely used resource with ~35,000 visits to the website foodcomposition.co.nz and ~107,200 search events conducted using the Online search facility over the last year.

The latest NZFCD products (FOODfiles™, Online Search and the data manual) were published on the website foodcomposition.co.nz on the 30^th August 2024. We have not released our Concise Tables this year, but the 2021 version is still available on the website. Some key highlights of this release:

• 74 new components have been added to the database of which two, galactose and total dietary fibre (measured using the liquid chromatography method AOAC 2017.16), are included in the Standard FOODfiles dataset. The majority of the components are an extended range of individual fatty acids. The total number of components in the database is 434, although data is not available for all of these in all foods. There are 90 Core Components – 87 components in the Standard version of FOODfiles plus three derived measures (Common Standard Measure, Density and Edible Portion).
• 191 Food Records have been added (a mix of new and replacement food, beverage, ingredient items). In addition, individual food composition data points have been updated for 165 Food Records from FOODfiles 2021. The total number of foods in the latest release now totals 2,857. Some of the new foods added in this latest release include: rēwena (Māori bread), natto, paneer, more canned fruits (in juice, syrup, water), yoghurt (plain, fruit, lactose-free, high protein), dairy-free cheeses, lentils, canned vegetables (black beans, baby corn, jack fruit) and fresh pasta.
• 97 Food Records reported in FOODfiles 2021 have been archived as they are now outdated.

Any questions feel free to contact us: [email protected].