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Organization

NCC is located in the Division of Epidemiology & Community Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. NCC has an experienced staff whose responsibilities include:

• maintenance, update and expansion of a comprehensive, current and complete research-quality food and nutrient database;
• development, enhancement and support of NDSR and NDSR Fluoride;
• dietary data collection, record processing, quality assurance and related services to facilitate nutrition research studies using NDSR; and
• client support involving licensing, technical issues, and use of NDSR.

NCC is supported by a variety of external sources including a long term collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Database
Update and maintenance of the NCC Food and Nutrient Database requires continual attention to the dynamic nature of the food marketplace. The influx of new food products on market shelves and reformulation of existing products compel work to add new foods, modify formulations, increase commercial ingredients, review fortification levels, improve food label descriptions, update nutrient values, and adjust packaging sizes and types for each database version release. Expansion of nutrient fields within the database is determined by scientific importance, research interests of NDSR and NDSR Fluoride users, and the availability of adequate nutrient data.

Information Technology
Annual software updates that incorporate feature enhancements and maintain industry standards allow NDSR and NDSR Fluoride users to collect, process, and analyze food intake data with accuracy and ease. Ongoing development of in-house maintenance and calculation programs facilitates database work and ensures integrity. Features unique to NDSR provide the ability to rerun intake records and user recipes entered in previous versions in the current version to take advantage of new nutrient fields and improved nutrient values.

Service Center
Clients may enlist the services of NCC to accomplish some or all of their dietary data collection and processing objectives. NCC offers training and certification of dietary interviewers, collection of dietary intake by telephone interview, processing of food records, analysis of menu and recipe data, development of dietary data collection protocols, consultation for school meal data collection and analysis, and customized support services for additional diverse endeavors.

Client Services
Clients receive a variety of services to support their use of NDSR or NDSR Fluoride. Licensing, annual upgrade agreements, and special provisions for the use of the database and software are processed. User questions are answered by staff that provide technical support, information about the software features, and insight into the various applications of the software. NCC also provides a service to resolve new and missing foods not found in the database, providing further accuracy and standardization of dietary data collection and analysis.