Food Compass will be updated based on our research, the latest science, and feedback from the scientific community. A summary of the released versions is below. The data presented on this website are for the latest version.

Food Compass v1.0:

The first published version, in Nature Food 2021

Food Compass v1.1:

The version published in Nature Communications 2022. Updates were:

  • The 5th and 95th percentile values of different attributes, food based ingredients, and scaling of the final Food Compass Score were updated from using 8,032 scored food and beverage items in FNDDS 2015-16 to 58,622 scored food and beverage items in FNDDS 2001-2018.
  • For scoring food ingredients, fruit and vegetable juices were separated from whole fruits and vegetables, and scored with half weights (0-5 instead of 0-10) given their potentially smaller health benefits.
  • The food ingredient target amounts for fruits and vegetables were disaggregated to separately account for dried fruits and vegetables.
  • The attribute scoring for nitrites was updated from a categorical threshold (yes if 25% energy or more from processed meats) to a continuous score scaled linearly between 25% to 100% energy from processed meats.
  • The attribute scoring for fermentation was updated from a categorical threshold (yes if 50% energy or more from fermented products) to a continuous score scaled linearly between 50% to 100% energy from fermented products.
Food Compass v2.0:

The version published in Nature Food 2024. Updates were:

  • Broader scoring for food processing, providing greater contrast with unprocessed/minimally processed foods receiving positive scores.
  • Inclusion of added sugar in the food ingredients domain, resulting in a better assessment of foods high in added sugar.
  • Higher scoring for dietary fiber as a positive attribute.
  • Less influence of dairy fat as a negative attribute.
  • Incorporation of new data (and therefore scoring) on artificial additives such as flavors, colors, and sweeteners as negative attributes.
  • More positive scoring for long-chain omega-3’s such as those found in seafood.
  • Neutral (rather than positive) scoring of 100% fruit and vegetable juices as ingredients.