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USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov)

USDA Agricultural Research Service FoodData Central: the authoritative US food-composition database (Foundation Foods, SR Legacy, Survey/FNDDS, Branded Foods, Experimental Foods). Food search and listing by data type, the complete nutrient record of one food (per 100 g values, data points, min/max/median, derivation, portions, conversion factors, brand and label data), nutrient-centric search (which foods carry a given nutrient such as biotin, chromium, molybdenum or an amino acid, ranked by amount), the nutrient reference list and the food-category lists. Anonymous JSON backend of the public web portal; public-domain data (CC0 1.0).

7 Firecrawl tools use USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov)

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Find Foundation foods matching cheddar cheese in USDA FoodData Central, with per-100-gram nutrient values.

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USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov)

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const result = await firecrawl.scrape({
  alexandria: {
    provider: "fdc-nal-usda-gov",
    capability: "foods/search_foods",
    options: {
      data_types: [
        "Foundation",
      ],
      query: "cheddar cheese",
    },
  },
});

2Response example

This is a sample shape. Press Run to see live data from USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov).

{
  "counts_by_data_type": {
    "Branded": 18773,
    "Foundation": 1,
    "SR Legacy": 14,
    "Survey (FNDDS)": 13
  },
  "data_types": [
    "Foundation"
  ],
  "foods": [
    {
      "brand_name": null,
      "brand_owner": null,
      "data_type": "Foundation",
      "description": "Cheese, cheddar",
      "fdc_id": 328637,
      "food_category": "Dairy and Egg Products",
      "food_code": null,
      "gtin_upc": null,
      "ingredients": null,
      "market_country": null,
      "ndb_number": "1009",
      "package_weight": null,
      "published_date": "2019-04-01",
      "score": 458.08142,
      "serving_size": null,
      "serving_size_unit": null,
      "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/328637/nutrients"
    }
  ],
  "observed_at_ms": 1791014871353,
  "page": 1,
  "page_size": 50,
  "query": "cheddar cheese",
  "source_url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/portal-data/external/search",
  "total_hits": 1,
  "total_pages": 1
}

Firecrawl tools

7

Ready-made Firecrawl tools that call USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov).

+1Export nutrient claim consistency checkUse when a food exporter or brand selling the same product in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Australia needs its nutrition panel and claims to hold up against each market's reference food database. Compares the product's stated values with official reference values per country and flags claims that would fail in one market.10 toolsOpen

School menu sodium and allergen checkUse when a school nutrition director reviews a vendor's menu cycle before the term. Pulls nutrient values for each branded item from USDA FoodData Central, checks allergens and processing level on Open Food Facts by barcode, and screens for recent FDA food recalls on the same brands, producing a compliance and swap list.5 toolsOpen

Calorie and allergen card for a new dishUse when a chef, menu developer or chain R&D lead is adding a dish and needs a calorie estimate and allergen statement before menus print. Builds the recipe's nutrients from USDA FoodData Central, reads Open Food Facts for branded components' allergens and additives, and checks FDA food recalls for each supplier brand. Produces a draft card clearly marked as an estimate.5 toolsOpen

+1Iron fortification gap scanUse when a food fortification program manager or public health nutritionist decides which staple foods to target for iron fortification. Compares anaemia prevalence across countries from WHO, ranks iron content of common staples in food composition tables from the US, Australia and Canada, and gathers trial evidence, producing a sourced shortlist of vehicles and countries.9 toolsOpen

+2Sugar levy reformulation auditUse when a public-health nutritionist, policy analyst or food campaigner wants to know whether a sugar levy or labelling rule is changing what is on shelves. Samples packaged drinks or snacks in a country, reads each product's sugar per 100 ml or g, compares with reference foods and with the population obesity trend, and reports which brands reformulated.10 toolsOpen

Allergen-aware group pizza orderUse when an office manager or event organiser is ordering Domino's for a group with dietary needs (gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, calorie-conscious). Reads the local store's full menu and product options, then estimates nutrition per item from USDA FoodData Central. Produces an order sheet with quantities, costs, fees and labelled estimates.6 toolsOpen

School lunch product vetting for a food service directorUse when a school district food service director is vetting branded products for the menu cycle. Reads ingredients, allergens and Nutri-Score from Open Food Facts, confirms nutrient values by UPC in USDA FoodData Central, and checks FDA recalls for each product and maker. Produces an approve, review or reject list with the reasons.5 toolsOpen

Benchmarks

Public records benchmarks

Quality, speed and cost, last 24 hours, across every agent call to USDA FoodData Central (fdc.nal.usda.gov) through Alexandria.

Quality: 96.2%; Calls answered without a tool error
Speed: 717 ms; 95% of successful calls finish faster
Cost: 5 credits; Firecrawl credits per call
Calls: 132; Last 24 hours, every Alexandria user

Quality and speed of each tool, last 24 hours
Tool	Quality	Speed	Calls
Search foods	95.5%	505 ms	88
Get food	97.7%	1.2 s	43

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