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FoodData Central

FoodData Central — free-tier JSON endpoint

🩺 Health & FoodUNMONITORED
AUTH APIKEYCORS ✓AGENT ?HTTPS ✓COMMERCIAL ?

FoodData Central offers a free API tier. We verified JSON on a sample GET (Health). Check provider docs for key requirements and limits.

—HOW IT'S SCORED ⓘ
▶ Run liveDocs ↗
Status badge · for your READMEshipapis health badge: — · unmonitored
ON PROBE SCHEDULE

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Open provider docs ↗

Uptime historystarts after first probe

On our probe schedule. Uptime charts appear after the first check lands.

Example responsefrom provider docs — not verified by us
GET https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEY

{
  "totalHits": 26835,
  "currentPage": 1,
  "totalPages": 26835,
  "pageList": [
    1,
    2
  ],
  "foodSearchCriteria": {
    "query": "apple",
    "generalSearchInput": "apple",
    "pageNumber": 1,
    "numberOfResultsPerPage": 50,
    "pageSize": 1,
    "requireAllWords": false
  },
  "foods": [
    {
      "fdcId": 2117388,
      "description": "APPLE",
      "dataType": "Branded",
      "gtinUpc": "070038322238",
      "publishedDate": "2021-10-28",
      "brandOwner": "Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc.",
      "brandName": "BEST CHOICE",
      "ingredients": "FILTERED WATER, APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C)."
    }
  ],
  "aggregations": {
    "dataType": {
      "Branded": 26698,
      "SR Legacy": 89,
      "Survey (FNDDS)": 42,
      "Foundation": 6
    },
    "nutrients": {}
  }
}
Call itcurl · fetch · python
curl "https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEY"
const res = await fetch("https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEY");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);
import requests

res = requests.get("https://api.nal.usda.gov/fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEY")
print(res.json())
Endpoints · 6On scheduleFULL DOCS ↗
On schedule — GET /fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEY awaits first probe
GET/fdc/v1/foods/search?query=apple&pageSize=1&api_key=DEMO_KEYPROBED

FoodData Central — free-tier JSON endpoint

GET/fdc

Fdc — documented GET route.

GET/fdc/1

Fdc details by ID (example: 1).

GET/fdc?limit=10

Fdc — documented GET route.

GET/fdc/search?q=test

Search by query parameters.

GET/fdc/v1/foods/search?limit=5

Search by query parameters.

Machine-readable spec

We probe a documented GET and expect 2xx JSON — full uptime and health score. Export includes every documented route below.

Response-shape history

Not tracked yet. Shape-change history starts once this API joins our probe schedule.

FoodData Central: common questions

Is FoodData Central free to use?

Yes — FoodData Central is a free health & food API. Free tier: Free tier — API key may be required for production. Whether the free tier allows commercial use is unclear — check the provider docs.

Does FoodData Central need an API key?

Yes — FoodData Central needs a free API key, which you pass on each request. Rate limits: Unpublished.

Can I call FoodData Central from the browser?

Yes — FoodData Central returns CORS headers over HTTPS, so front-end code can fetch it directly with no backend proxy. Use the fetch snippet on this page, or hit "Run live" to try it now.

Is FoodData Central up right now?

FoodData Central is catalogued but not yet on our probe schedule, so we don't publish a live status for it. Check the provider's own status page or docs for its current state.