Project Number: 1235-52000-061-21
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 28, 2007
End Date: Aug 16, 2011

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative agreement is to obtain reliable and current nutrient data on vitamin D in U.S. foods and dietary supplements. To determine its content in selected food products and dietary supplements. The food data generated by this agreement will improve and expand the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference that is released on the Nutrient Data Laboratory web site. The supplement data generated by this agreement will be used in the development of an analytically verified dietary supplement database. Vitamin D is among the highest ranked nutrients of public health significance and is, in part, the subject of recent publications published by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science.

Approach:
The Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) is responsible for developing and disseminating authoritative food composition databases for foods in the U.S. diet. As part of the National Food and Nutrient Analysis Program (NFNAP), NDL has identified foods for nutrient analyses. These foods may be Key Foods, that is, those foods that collectively contribute up to 75% of the dietary intake of any one nutrient of public health significance, foods used as important ingredients in other foods and foods that contain nutrients of emerging interest. Foods selected by NDL for analysis by the Cooperator will be those foods that have naturally occurring vitamin D or are fortified with added vitamin D. NDL will develop a sampling plan to assure that each food sampled will be representative of the food supply. Composited samples will be delivered to the Cooperator for nutrient analysis. In addition, the Cooperator, on occasion, may be required to pick up local samples for analysis and may receive samples that will need to be composited. The Cooperator will also provide expertise in the area of sample handling, analytical methodology and quality control related to vitamin D. The Cooperator may also receive for analysis samples of dietary supplements that contain added vitamin D. These samples may need to be composited.