Increase Visibility of Your Private Label Lines in the USDA Branded Foods Database to Strengthen Nutrition Research and Public Policy
With owned brands offering value to retailers and consumers alike, RDBA has recently highlighted opportunities for retail RDs to promote private label in their healthy living programs, events and services. Another option to bring heightened visibility to owned brands is participation in the USDA Global Branded Food Products Database (GBFPD) – a publicly available database used for research and policy purposes by government, academic researchers, health professionals, and the food industry.
By sharing label data with the USDA GBFPD, retailers can achieve greater visibility and representation of their product lines as the database is used by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists and other health professionals to evaluate and recommend products, and as health and nutrition apps use these data as a resource to bring information to consumers on a phone or watch in real time while shopping. Moreover, retailers can ensure their owned brands are not overlooked as label information in the database are used to support research and policy initiatives. Ultimately, by participating in this initiative retailers can achieve enhanced visibility that strengthens nutrition research and policy as well as the relationship between retailers and the consumer.
With nutrient and ingredient information on over 394,000 products – representing approximately 85% of US sales volume based on NielsenIQ sales data over the last 52 weeks – the USDA GBFPD is the largest publicly-available database of its kind. These data are used by research and policy officials to inform solutions for national health priorities such as obesity, food insecurity, and food and nutrition assistance policy. Notably, however, private label products are underrepresented in the database. The public-private partnership that delivers this database is calling on retailers to submit their owned brands so they can be included in these research and policy initiatives.
There are two options for retailers looking to get involved:
- Publish private label product information to the USDA via the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), which is supported by all data pool providers (e.g., 1WordSync, Syndigo)
- Upload private label product label flats to NielsenIQ Label Insight (free of charge)
Data submitted by retailers and manufacturers can be updated at any time to ensure the USDA GBFPD reflects the most current product formulations and portfolios.
To learn more about the database and the benefits of getting involved, contact Wendelyn Jones at wjones@iafns.org or Jacqueline Dougherty at jdougherty@gs1us.org.
Notes:
The Partners in the Public-Private Partnership on the USDA Global Branded Food Products Database are USDA, the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), GS1 US, 1WorldSync, NielsenIQ Label Insight, and the University of Maryland.
IAFNS is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that advances food safety and nutrition science in support of public health. Visit www.iafns.org to learn more.
