International Food Code

Many national food composition databases (FCDB) encode foods with unique codes to enable consistent identification and data exchange. International collaborative efforts such as Food and Agriculture Organization International Network of Food Data Systems (FAO/INFOODS) guidelines recommend unique food identifiers, and secondary resources use a composite identifier format that has been referred to as an '''International Food Code''' ('''IFC''') to reference foods across multiple FCDBs.<ref>{{cite report | title = FAO/INFOODS Guidelines for Checking Food Composition Data prior to the Publication of a User Table/Database – Version 1.0 | author = FAO/INFOODS | year = 2012 | publisher = Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | location = Rome, Italy | url = https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/food_composition/documents/upload/Guidelines_data_checking.pdf | access-date = 25 February 2026 | type = Technical guideline/manual | work = FAO/INFOODS Standards and Guidelines }}</ref>

== Structure of an IFC ==

An IFC begins with a database identifier: An ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code which identifies the source country, followed by a two digit code which represents the year of publication of the source database. A dot is usually used to separate the database identifier from the food code used by the publisher. The publisher's code can be up to 8 characters long, so the maximum length for an IFC is 12 characters, excluding the optional dot.

== Examples == ; GB15.14-318 : The code above shows "''Bananas, flesh only''" from UK published "''COFIDS Includes McCance & Widdowson 2021''"<ref>{{cite report | title = McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021 | author = Public Health England | year = 2021 | publisher = GOV.UK (UK Government) | url = https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60538e66d3bf7f03249bac58/McCance_and_Widdowsons_Composition_of_Foods_integrated_dataset_2021.pdf | access-date = 8 March 2026 | type = User guide / database documentation | location = United Kingdom }}</ref> ; IE09.5068 : The code above shows "''Porridge, made with low fat milk''" from Irish published "''Irish Food Composition database 2009''" ; US15.15083 : The code above shows "''Fish, salmon, pink, raw''" from US published "''United States Department of Agriculture, SR28 2015''"<ref>{{cite report | title = Composition of Foods: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 28 — Documentation and User Guide | author = U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory | year = 2015 | publisher = U.S. Department of Agriculture | url = https://www.ars.usda.gov/arsuserfiles/80400525/data/sr/sr28/sr28_doc.pdf | access-date = 8 March 2026 | location = Beltsville, Maryland, United States | type = Technical documentation / database user guide }}</ref>

== Use on Barcodes and numeric systems == A common variation on the IFC structure is to replace the leading ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 letters with their [https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#search numeric equivalents]. The publisher's code is then prefixed with leading zeros and the dot is excluded to create a 13 digit code. This allows the IFC to be used as a Universal Product Code for barcode identification.

Example: '''GB15.14-318''' becomes '''8261500014318'''

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Unique identifiers