The Child Nutrition Database (CNDB) is a required part of the nutrient analysis software approved by USDA for use in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. It is a nutrient database of over 10,000 food items.
The CNDB includes food product nutrient data collected for the following 18 nutrients: calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, iron, ash, total sugars, and moisture.
The CNDB includes nutrient data from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR) Legacy Release, data for the USDA Standardized Recipes and USDA Foods, and data collected from food manufacturers for products produced for and marketed to school food service.
The CNDB is usually updated once each year in the spring. Software companies with nutrient analysis software approved by USDA are required to update their software with the current release of the CNDB.
The 23rd Release of the CNDB (CN23) is available. USDA-approved software must be updated to include CN23.
Download the Current Version of the Child Nutrition Database
The most recent version (CN23) of the CNDB is available on this website as a CSV (comma-separated values) format. To download this version of the CNDB please right-click on the link for each CSV file (one file per database table) and “save target as…”. Please also download the Child Nutrition Database Documentation document that explains the tables and fields in this database.
- Food Description Table (FDES)*
- Food Category Name Table (CTGNME)
- Weights Table (WGHT_rev)**
- Nutrient Values Table (NUTVAL)
- Nutrient Description Table (NUTDES)
- Child Nutrition Database Documentation
*Note: If opening the CN23 CSV FDES file in Excel, this file must be opened from your file manager (File Explorer or Finder) or imported into Excel, not opened with “Open” from within Excel.
**Note: The revised file for the Weights table (WGHT_rev.csv) corrects an error in the Measure_Desc value for CN_Code: 51685.
The CNDB is also available in additional file formats to software developers on the CNP Approved Nutrition Software PartnerWeb (SharePoint) site and to other interested persons upon request.
For additional information about the CN Database, contact us at cnpntab@usda.gov.
Data is collected by use of the following OMB approved data collection process:
FNS-710
OMB Number: 0584-0494
Expiration: Jan. 31, 2021