Understanding the global, regional, and national context of the nutrient content of packaged foods is critical as countries develop and implement policies to limit unhealthy nutrients in packaged food, such as sodium targets and front-of-package labels.
The Global Nutrition Database for Packaged Foods, developed by Resolve to Save Lives is an online, open access, centralized platform for category level packaged food data that policy advocates and decision makers can reference when developing food policies or tracking country progress. By bringing this information together and sharing it publicly in an easily accessible format, the database enables the review and comparison of sodium, sugar, and saturated fat levels in packaged foods by category and country, while also improving data accessibility and transparency for informed decision-making.
About the data
Currently, packaged food data for 25 countries are included in the database: sodium data is available for 24 countries, sugar data for 5 countries, and saturated fat data for 2 countries.
The majority of the data is sourced from published studies, with ongoing updates as new information becomes available to support comprehensive global monitoring efforts.
We’re seeking more data, especially from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean, African, and Southeast Asian regions. Your contributions can help fill these gaps, empowering policymakers to make informed decisions for healthier food environments worldwide. Join us in building a more complete picture—together, we can make a difference! See the section below on how to help us grow the database.
Using the data
The Global Nutrition Database for Packaged Foods can be utilized in several ways:
- Conduct research: Analyze data to identify trends and compare nutrient content to global, regional, or national targets and policies for packaged foods, contributing to the understanding of policy impact
- Develop better nutrition policies: Reference the data to establish or update nutrient thresholds used in national and regional policies targeting sodium, sugar, and saturated fat reduction in packaged foods.
- Track progress: Monitor policies and track progress in achieving nutrition goals by comparing nutrient levels in packaged foods over time.
- Advocate for policies: Demonstrate that reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat in packaged foods is achievable. Use cross-country comparisons in the database to push for stronger food policies, highlighting areas where unhealthy nutrient levels are particularly high.
- Raise awareness: Build up public coalitions and support for packaged food policy by raising awareness through public health campaigns to spotlight unhealthy levels of nutrients in packaged foods.
Case use example
Methods:
We examined the processed cheese and potato chip categories across countries with available data.
Results:
Processed Cheese: In all 5 countries, the average sodium content of processed cheese was higher than the WHO Global Sodium Benchmark (the recommended maximum limit for sodium in the category), despite significant variations.
Potato Chips: The average sodium content of potato chips in 2 out of 6 countries met the WHO benchmark, or recommended maximum limit of sodium, highlighting that it is feasible for a wide range of products to fall below the benchmark.
These findings highlight opportunities to reduce sodium content in packaged food products and underscore the importance of accessible, category-level national packaged food nutrition data. Making this data available can help shape policies, advance global nutrition targets, and measure progress toward national and global targets. Additionally, the data reveals that sodium content within a food category can vary widely across different countries, indicating disparities in accessing healthier options and a need for more equitable sodium reduction efforts globally.
Help us grow the database
Data contributions from countries are crucial for enhancing the Global Nutrition Database and helping to drive well-informed policy development and public health initiatives worldwide. Adding nutrient data from more countries and time points will increase the opportunity for users to compare data across countries and assess changes over time. To have your country’s data included in the database, please get in touch with us!
To be eligible for inclusion, packaged food data should:
- Be collected from individual product nutrition labels
- Be organized by food category
- Have been collected no earlier than 2015
- Report the summary statistics (e.g., mean, median, and/or range values), by food category, for one or more of the following nutrients: sodium, sugar, saturated fat.
Contact us
For any questions, comments, suggestions, or to share country level data on sodium, sugar, saturated fat, or trans-fat, contact us at [email protected].