Food Categories
25 USDA food categories covering every major food group. Each category page shows foods, sort controls, averages, and calorie/protein extremes.
Methodology
Food categories on GetFoodFacts mirror the Source: USDA FoodData Central category taxonomy — the same grouping used in the official FDC web UI and public API. We import the canonical category names as-is. Every food belongs to exactly one category, so a category page shows an exact match to that USDA grouping rather than a keyword search or an approximate tag.
On each category page, averages (calories, protein) are computed only from the foods shown on the current page, not the full category — this keeps the numbers honest for paginated views, since the tail of a large category can look different from the head. The highest/lowest-calorie items shown are likewise drawn from the current page rather than the whole category, with that caveat noted alongside the figures. Sort options are limited to a fixed, vetted set of fields.
Branded entries outnumber whole foods inside most categories, so calorie averages skew toward processed products. If you want a cleaner whole-food comparison within a category, combine this view with a diet filter (e.g. Low Calorie) or a nutrient ranking. All numeric values trace back to Source: USDA laboratory analysis or manufacturer-submitted label data.