On January 27, 2026, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a new interactive tool, the Total Diet Study Interface (TDSi), that makes it easier to explore and download results from the agency’s long-running Total Diet Study. Along with the launch of TDSi, FDA also shared the latest round of data from fiscal years 2021 and 2022, expanding the publicly available TDS results to cover 2018 through 2022.  

For more information: Constituent update 

What is Total Diet Study? 

FDA’s Total Diet Study (TDS) is a national monitoring program that collects, prepares and analyzes foods representative of the average U.S. diet. The TDS measures levels of nutrients and chemical contaminants in foods consumed in the United States. Using these data, FDA estimates the average daily dietary intake of nutrients and contaminants for the total U.S. population as well as specific subpopulations, supporting population-level exposure assessment. 

Importantly, the TDS framework enables evaluation of dietary exposure across foods and overtime, supporting more holistic assessments of cumulative exposure rather than relying solely on isolated point-in-time measurements. 

To learn more about the total diet study please visit the FDA website.

How to Interpret TDS Data 

It is important to note that the Total Diet Study (TDS) is not a direct measure of individual health risk, but rather a program designed to estimate dietary exposure at the population level. TDS results are derived from composite, strata-based food samples that are selected and prepared to represent foods consumed by the average U.S. population, rather than individual consumption behaviors, specific brands, or single products. 

Accordingly, TDS data are most appropriately used to evaluate broad exposure patterns, temporal trends, and the relative contribution of foods or food groups to overall dietary exposure, rather than to draw conclusions about risk for any individual consumer or food item. While the TDS includes a wide range of foods and chemical foods, it is not intended to be fully comprehensive of the entire food supply or all possible contaminants. The results should therefore be interpreted as one important input within a broader food chemical safety and risk assessment framework, alongside other data sources and evaluation approaches. 

So, in summary: 

• TDS estimates population-level dietary exposure, not individual risk. 

• Data are based on composite, strata-based samples representing typical U.S. diets. 

• Results are intended for trend analysis and prioritization, not compliance or enforcement. 

• While broad in scope, TDS is not exhaustive of all foods or contaminants in the food supply. 

To learn more about how the TDS calculates exposure visit the FDA Website.

TDSi The Total Diet Study Interface 

The Total Diet Study Interface (TDSi) is a web-based, interactive platform developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to provide streamlined access to Total Diet Study (TDS) analytical results. Unlike static PDF reports of the past, TDSi allows users to visualize, explore and download TDS data from fiscal years 2018 through 2022 via intuitive dashboards and exportable files. 

What is included in the TDSi 

Dashboard: Visualization dashboards for the data within the system. The TDSi contains three dashboards: 

• Elements Dashboard – shows analytical results for nutrient and naturally occurring elements tested in foods. These include essential nutrients (like calcium and iron) as well as elements that are often evaluated as contaminants (like arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury).  

• Radionuclides Dashboard – displays results for radionuclides in foods, including those from historical fallout and naturally occurring sources.  

• Pesticides Dashboard – presents data on pesticide residues and pesticide metabolites found in foods. Many of these have regulatory standards under U.S. Code of Federal Regulations.  

Data Exports: Users can download full datasets and summary tables for each category (elements, radionuclides and pesticides) in spreadsheet formats, making the information accessible for independent analysis stakeholders. 

In Summary, TDSi helps stakeholders: 

• Quickly visualize trends in dietary exposure to nutrients and contaminants. 

• Compare food levels across food categories and over multiple years. 

• Export standardized datasets for further analysis or modeling. 

• Access associated technical context on study design and analytical methods. 

To access the TDSi click here.

Why This Matters 

The TDSi provides a publicly available datasets for understanding dietary exposure to chemical foods across the U.S. food supply. For regulators, researchers, industry and public-health professionals, this tool improves transparency, supports data-driven prioritization and enables more informed discussions around food chemical safety and nutrition trends. 

The TDSi is intended to support exposure characterization, not to serve as a stand-alone measure of risk or a comprehensive assessment of the entire food supply and should be interpreted within the context of its data sources.