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The ’Grey’ Literature


 Updated 2026-02-23

 What is ’grey’ literature?

The 'grey' literature is written and published material (such as analytical or survey reports) that may be difficult to trace via conventional channels such as published and peer reviewed journals It is usually not published commercially or may not be not widely accessible. It is nonetheless a very important source of information in food composition, because it is original and recent. Examples of grey literature include technical reports, e.g. technical reports from government agencies or scientific research groups, working papers from research groups or committees, etc.

The reports are usually written in the official laguage (languages) of the issuing organisations, and this may for non-English languages limit broad access to reports. Furthermore, the reports may be difficult to find as they are not necessarily covered by the commercial publishers and public search engines, like scientific literature.

As the analytical or survey reports are of extreme importance in food composition work, below is a collection of the most recent works by government agencies, research instititutes and laboratories. Most of the reports are available for download (marked by Download indication with hyperlink.). There are however a few reports mentioned below, for which it has not been possible to find a hyperlink. 


 More recent analytical or survey reports in food composition

Australia
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
France
Norway
The Netherlands
Sweden

 

Switzerland
United Kingdom
USA

 



 News
New version of the Svedish Food Composition Database

2026-07-03
The Swedish Food Composition Database has been updated with new data for fats, dairy products and eggs. For more information, see the Swedish food composition database.
 
New Danish Food Composition Database

2026-06-02
The National Food Institute of Denmark (DTU) has updated the Danish Food Composition Database with a new comprehensive user interface, see the new site.
 
NEW FAO/INFOODS food composition website

2026-04-15
The new website includes updated information on INFOODS, including data centres and current coordinators. For more information, see FAO/INFOODS website.
 
The German BLS 4.0 is now fully available free of charge

2026-03-23
The new release covers 7,140 foods and expands nutrient information to 138 components. For more information, see BLS 4.0.