AUSNUT 2023 files

AUSNUT 2023 was developed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to help turn information about foods and dietary supplements reported as consumed in the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS) 2023 and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NATSINPAS) 2023 into estimates of food and dietary supplement consumption amounts and nutrient intakes. It also contains information to help users interpret the data and compare data with previous surveys. 

More information about AUSNUT 2023 is available on the FSANZ website. Each AUSNUT publication is specific to the survey and reflects the products available and consumed at the time. See Comparing food and nutrient collections over time for more information.

Food and dietary supplement consumption patterns can be described using several approaches. Data in AUSNUT 2023 was classified by the:

• food and dietary supplement classification
• Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) food group classification
• discretionary food flag.

These classification systems were adapted from those used in the Australian Health Survey (AHS) 2011–13 and the National Nutrition Survey 1995. The main aims of the AUSNUT 2023 were to:

• enable reporting of trends in food and supplement consumption and nutrient intake
• reflect the current food supply but allow room for changes in the food supply
• enable food, discretionary status and nutrient intake data to be reported by food group
• provide flexibility and access to detail for users with different research or reporting objectives.

There are many ways that foods and dietary supplements can be classified, and no single classification system will meet the needs of all users. The AUSNUT 2023 system was designed to meet the requirements of the 2023 study. Users who wish to reclassify the foods and supplements by different parameters will be able to access unit record file data in the DataLab later in 2025.

The AUSNUT food and dietary supplement classification system is tiered, with a unique code assigned to each individual food and dietary supplement. For foods, the first 2 digits denote a major food group, the first 3 digits a sub-major group, and the first 5 digits a minor group. There are 24 major groups used in the Intergenerational Health and Mental Health Study (IHMHS) comprising:

• 23 food groups: 128 sub-major groups, 477 minor groups and 3,741 individual food codes
• 1 dietary supplement group: 6 sub-major groups, 56 minor groups, and 1,350 individual supplement codes.

Note: The number of sub-major and minor groups may differ from the full AUSNUT 2023 classification. Some AUSNUT groups were suppressed in the ABS publications due to no responses being reported in either the NNPAS 2023 or the NATSINPAS 2023. 

Examples of food groups are shown in the table below. See Food consumption by AUSNUT food groups for information about interpreting these categories within ABS data. The full classification is available in the NNPAS Data Item List, the NATSINPAS Data Item List, and on the FSANZ website.

The Australian Dietary Guideline (ADG) classification system used in the NNPAS 2023 and NATSINPAS 2023 was adapted from the 2011–13 classification used in the AHS 2011–13. 

The ADG food groups are classified at 3 levels which include Major Food Groups (2-digit), Sub-groups (3-digit) and the Servings Sub-groups (4-digit), with the serving size used for each (e.g. 1 serve of vegetables is 75 g). The major food group categories are: 

• Grain (cereal) foods
• Vegetables and legumes/beans
• Fruit
• Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives
• Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes, beans, and tofu
• Water
• Unsaturated spreads and oils
• Recipe
• Unclassified.

Examples of these food groups are shown in the table below. See Australian Dietary Guideline (ADG) food groups for information about interpreting these categories within ABS data. The full classification is available in the NNPAS Data Item List and the NATSINPAS Data Item List.

Food nutrient profiles

The food nutrient profiles contain information on the nutrient content of each 8-digit food and beverage. The file contains 58 nutrient items for each food including energy with and without dietary fibre, macronutrients, vitamins, minerals and other food components. Each nutrient value is presented on a per 100 g edible portion basis and merged to the NNPAS or NATSINPAS survey files to derive nutrient intake estimates per portion size and per day.

Food details

The food details file includes non-nutrient information about each 8-digit food, including IDs, a description, classifications, details about how the nutrient profile was created by FSANZ (e.g. from a recipe, analysed, borrowed), and other factors that fed into creating the nutrient profile and ADG recipe data where relevant.

Food measures

The food measures file lists standard portions and measures used in the 2023 study. This includes gram amounts, volumes, and densities. This file was used within the Intake24 tool, as well as to support data processing work. Some measures in the study, for example food served on a plate, were directly assigned a gram weight in Intake24, and are not included in this file. See the FSANZ website for more details regarding food densities.

Food nutrient recipes

The food nutrient recipes contain ingredients used to create mixed dish recipes in Intake24, and the weights assigned to ingredients used within the recipe. The foods collected in the study are often presented to respondents in Intake24 as made-up or “mixed dishes” with individual components considered. The file outlines the assumptions made in creating a nutrient profile for these mixed dishes.

Recipes may use “not further defined” foods - these nutrient profiles were created by FSANZ based on a weighted average of multiple products within the food type (usually defined by proportion of retail sales, or in the case of oils and fats in cooking, based on short answer survey responses, see Oils and fats).

For example, a “Sandwich or roll, ham & cheese” dish contains:

• Bread, commercial, not further defined
• Fat, butter, dairy blend, or margarine spread, not further defined
• Ham, leg, lean
• Cheese, for use on sandwiches, not further defined.

Data is published by the ABS in its reported state. Researchers will be able to link ingredient information to survey data in Datalab later in 2025.

Australian Dietary Guideline profiles and recipes

The ADG profiles contain information on the ADG food group content of each 8-digit food and beverage. The file contains the amount in grams and serves for 79 food subgroups. Each food group value is presented as a gram amount and serve amount on a per 100 g edible portion basis.

The Australian Dietary Guideline recipes file lists any weight change factors applied to ingredients when calculating the ADG profiles for mixed dish recipes. These consider things like cooking and other preparation methods. For example, a weight change factor is applied to a “Sandwich or roll, ham & cheese, toasted” when creating the ADG profile, but this factor is not applied to the untoasted version.  

For further information about the ADGs, see Australian Dietary Guidelines (ADG) food groups.

Dietary supplement nutrient profiles

The dietary supplement nutrient profiles contain information on the nutrient content of each dietary supplement. The file contains 39 nutrient items for each supplement including macronutrients, vitamins, minerals and other components. Each nutrient value is presented on a per dose unit basis and merged to the NNPAS 2023 and NATSINPAS 2023 files to derive estimates per dosage and per day.

Dietary supplement details

The dietary supplement details file lists all supplements with a nutrient profile created by FSANZ, its ID, name, dose unit (e.g. tablet, film coated), and classification code. The file was used to classify supplements from their registration number to the food and dietary supplement classification. 

Dietary supplement recipes and ingredient profiles

The dietary supplement recipes detail ingredients used to create supplement nutrient profiles for the study, and the ingredient amounts. For example, one type of magnesium supplement contains:

• Magnesium amino acid chelates
• Magnesium oxide – heavy
• Manganese amino acid chelates
• Pyridoxine hydrochloride.

This file also includes an estimated formulation when items were unable to be coded to a specific registration code and were assigned a “not further defined” profile (e.g. Dietary supplement, multivitamin and/or multimineral, not further defined). The dietary supplement ingredient profiles contain information on the nutrient content of each ingredient used in the dietary supplement recipes. Data is published by the ABS in its reported state. Researchers will be able to link ingredient information to survey data in the Datalab later in 2025.