Save the Date: National Nutrient Databank Conference May 16-18, 2022
Mark your calendars for the 42nd National Nutrient Databank Conference to be held virtually on May 16-18, 2022. The conference theme is 125 Years of Food Composition: Where We’ve Been And How We’re Evolving Globally.
The conference will allow presenters to showcase their latest research and network with others in this unique field of food composition. Since last year’s virtual conference was successful, next year’s conference will be held virtually again, due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19.
Submission of abstracts for poster or oral presentations related to food composition and dietary supplement data and databasesis now open!
Submission deadline for oral/poster presentation: December 1, 2021
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: January 15, 2022
Zoom NDSR training workshops are filling up quickly
The new Zoom format for NDSR training workshops has been wildly popular with both new and existing clients. As a result, we have had to close registration early for several recent workshops. If you are considering attending a future training, we encourage you to register early. The next NDSR Training is scheduled for January 10-11, 2022. Registration on our website will close when the workshop fills, or on December 21, 2021, whichever comes first.
We want to make sure that everyone knows that NDSR 2021 is now available! If your annual support is current as of August 1, the primary account holder at your institution should have received an email with a link to download the newest version of NDSR. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend upgrading to NDSR 2021, as we have updated a number of food product categories so that foods and nutrients in NDSR reflect today’s marketplace. We also added a number of foods to the database so that foods consumed by Americans are better represented. For tips on upgrading, see our FAQ page and click on ‘Upgrading’. If you did not receive an email with an upgrade link, contact NDSRHelp@umn.edu.
If you are not a currently supported client and want access to NDSR 2021, email NDSRHelp@umn.edu for pricing and other details on reinstating support.
Welcome NCC’s New Associate Director
We would like to introduce Abigail Johnson, PhD RDN to you. Dr. Johnson joined the Nutrition Coordinating Center as Associate Director in 2020. She is a nutrition scientist and registered dietitian with specific expertise in dietary data analysis and microbiome studies. Dr. Johnson is broadly interested in dietary assessment and innovative dietary assessment technologies. She has led dietary intervention studies and has worked with nutritional and dietary data from cross-sectional studies and large citizen science projects.
Dr. Johnson recently presented her research to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Food Forum Workshop titled “Challenges and Opportunities for Precision and Personalized Nutrition”. A link to her presentation can be found here.
Healthy Eating Index (HEI) Reports and Output files to be included in NDSR 2022
You’ve asked and we’ve responded- HEI reports and output files are being added to NDSR. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) is a tool developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cancer Institute to evaluate the extent to which diets are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Possible index points range from 0-100, with a higher score indicating greater consistency of the diet with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Watch for more details in future NCC News Bites, and a big thank you to clients that have been providing valuable input as we work to develop the HEI reports and output files to be included in NDSR 2022.
Backup Files are Gold
Anyone who has experienced a hard drive crash will likely have no difficulty in understanding the importance of creating backup files. Although NDSR protects data by saving record information to your hard drive or server as it is entered, it is also important to create a NDSR backup and data management plan. Frequent backup of projects to multiple locations (e.g., hard drive, network drive, flash drive, cloud storage, etc.) is recommended. Additionally, reports can be saved or printed immediately following data entry to protect against information loss. More information on backing up your data is available on the NCC website.
User Support Hours will be limited for 1 day
NCC is moving it’s office space one floor up. During the day of the move, we anticipate limited User Support hours. More detailed information on User Support hours during the move can be found on our website once posted.
November NDSR Training
The next NDSR Training Workshop is scheduled for November 15-16, 2021. Register hereby October 28if you are interested in this Zoom training. If the limited seats in the training are filled, registration will close early.
Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter
Are you on LinkedIn or Twitter? Follow the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center. We’re regularly posting information we think NDSR users will find helpful.
Nutrient content of plant-based ground beef alternative products reported using data in NCC Food and Nutrient Database
We conducted an analysis of the nutrient composition of plant-based ground beef alternative products in the NCC Food and Nutrient Database, which includes 37 plant-based ground beef alternative products produced by nine food companies. Nutritional strengths and shortcomings were found for these products. To summarize findings:
Plant-based ground beef alternative products tended to be a good or excellent source of a number of nutrients such as fiber, folate and iron.
Most of the plant-based ground beef alternative products contained substantially lower amounts of saturated fat than ground beef.
Among the plant-based ground beef alternative products examined, most contained substantially less protein, zinc and vitamin B12 than ground beef.
Many plant-based products contained moderate to high amounts of sodium.
To learn more, click here for access to the full article.
Reminder: Certification Grace Period ends November 1, 2021
Individuals who attend our two day NDSR Training are eligible to be NDSR Certified (additional fee applies). The certification process consists of completing ten practice recalls and two certification recalls with NCC trainers. We recommend that trainees start their certification process within three to four months of when they attend the training workshop, as those who wait longer have a harder time passing their certification. Last year we let you know that we implemented a policy that individuals must complete their certification within two years of attending training. After that, the certification fee will be charged again if you want to be certified. This additional charge is needed because we find it takes extra effort to carry out certification when there is a lengthy delay between training and certification. For those who have paid for certification and attended training more than two years ago, we are granting a grace period. If you complete your certification by November 1, 2021, you will not be charged again.
Email Julia Lorenzana Peasley at peas0027@umn.edu to initiate your certification process or ask questions.
Survey Results are In!
Many thanks to those of you who completed our Client Survey! We reviewed the results and your suggestions closely to help improve NDSR and our services. Some questions and requests came in through the survey that we will answer in this and future issues of the NCC News Bite. If you have any other questions about using NDSR, we invite you to email us at NDSRhelp@umn.edu anytime. We like hearing from you, and you don’t have to wait for the next survey to submit other questions. Our User Support team is available to help answer your questions.
How to export your NDSR data to Excel
NDSR output files are generated in .txt format, which can be easily imported to many statistical analysis programs. If you want to view your data in Excel, you may want to generate the output with the column headers by selecting the checkbox shown below in the User Preferences. Then, you can extract the .txt files and open them with Excel. You can find step by step instructions on our website under the FAQ “How do I open my output in Microsoft Excel and view it?”
Saving a User Recipe or Other Record to Another Project in NDSR
If you would like to save a copy of a User Recipe to another project in NDSR, highlight the User Recipe, and choose ‘Save As…’ from the Record Menu at the top of the screen, or choose ‘Save As’ from the right-click menu. You will be prompted to select the Project name from the list of available User Recipe projects. Then edit the Recipe ID number, as NDSR will not allow you to have two User Recipes with the same ID in the program, and click ‘OK’. You can also follow these steps to save copies of Intake records, Menus, and User Products. You will have to change the Product ID for User Products when performing a Save As, just as you do with the User Recipe. Menus and Intake records can be saved without changing the record ID.
Going forward NDSR Training will be via Zoom
During the COVID pandemic we switched our NDSR training from an in-person to remote Zoom-based training. During this process we learned it was possible to deliver a high quality experience, with evaluations of the Zoom-based trainings on par with ratings given to our in-person training. To further assess the acceptability of this training modality we asked about your preferences in the recent NDSR Client Survey. Findings from the survey indicate that most would prefer Zoom-based training over in-person training, largely due to greater convenience and elimination of travel costs. Consequently, going forward we will continue to offer NDSR training via Zoom with in-person training discontinued. The next training is scheduled for August 9-10, 2021. Register hereby July 22 if you are interested in the training. If the limited seats in the training are filled, registration will close early.
New Foods
The following foods are included with the NCC News Bite for July 2021. A New Foods Backup File is available for download on our website under New Food Backup Files, “Summer 2021”.
Health-Ade Kombucha – Lemon Ginger
Popeyes Classic Chicken Sandwich
Ensure Clear Nutrition Drink
Chobani Complete Yogurt – Vanilla
Crunchmaster Snack Crackers – Sea Salt
Lunchables Brunchables Bacon & Cheese Flatbread with Blueberry Muffin
Initiative to Add Culturally Relevant Cuisines to NDSR
To improve the representativeness of foods in NDSR, we have begun an initiative to add foods unique to Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, and Somali cooking traditions. Starting with NDSR 2021 watch for the inclusion of a growing number of foods for these cuisines.
Photo: Tomme Beevas, owner of Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, Minneapolis, MN. Photographed for the MNDaily by Elle Moulin.
Dietary Assessment in Pregnant Women and Children ages 2 to 11 years
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently held a series of four workshops to explore the evidence on methodological approaches to conducting intake assessment of food and dietary supplements in pregnant women and children ages 2 to 11 years. The workshops explored issues related to methods used to examine total usual food and dietary supplement intakes, best practices in dietary assessment applications used to estimate total intakes of food and supplements in population groups, and data gaps in dietary assessment methodologies.
Several NDSR Users presented data including Andrea Anater from RTI who presented on the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS). The Nestlé Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS), started by Gerber in 2002, is the largest dietary intake study in the United States to examine what and how infants and toddlers eat every day.
Recordings of all of the National Academics workshops are available here.
Do you need a way of rapidly identifying foods that are high or low in a specific nutrient or other food component?
The Nutrition Coordinating Center works every day to maintain and update the comprehensive research-quality NCC Food and Nutrient Database. In addition to supporting NDSR, this database may be licensed by software developers and researcher for a variety of purposes. One of the files that may be licensed, the Nutrients Per Common Portion Size file, allows you to easily sort foods by nutrient content (e.g, identify foods highest in a nutrient like Vitamin K). If you are interested in learning more about this file or would like to license it, contact us here.
NDSR Client Survey Reminder
Recently, NCC sent a brief survey to the primary contact for each of our client institutions. We are conducting this survey to increase our understanding of the needs of those who use the NDSR software. If you have already responded, please accept our thanks and disregard this friendly reminder.
If you have not yet completed the survey, please consider helping us. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. Your response is important as results will help us improve NDSR and our services. Thank you.
No Price Increase for July 2021 – June 2022
Current prices for NDSR licensing and annual support will remain the same through June 2022. The NCC price list is available here.
News from the41st National Nutrient Databank Conference (NNDC)
NCC was pleased to be a part of the 41st NNDC held virtually on November 16-18. We learned a lot about the food and nutrient database work being done nationally and internationally and the needs of the attendees. Our future database work will be strengthened by the insights we gained from this important conference.
We were pleased to share some of our work through oral presentations. Most notably, we shared the methodology we developed to add lignans to NDSR and we reported on the extent to which nonnutritive sweeteners are found in brand name food products in NDSR. Click on the links below to view the abstracts for each of these topics.
Mark your calendars for the 42nd National Nutrient
Databank Conference to be held in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, from May 16 to 18, 2022.
How does NDSR compare to the ASA24?
A number of you have asked how NDSR compares to NIH’s Automated Self-administered 24-hour Dietary Recall System (ASA24). In brief, NDSR is a PC-based dietary analysis program for 24-hour dietary recall collection and analysis of food records, menus, and recipes. Collection of dietary recalls is carried out by an interviewer who is trained in the use of NDSR. The dietary recalls may be collected over the telephone or in-person.
The ASA24 is a web-based dietary analysis program for 24-hour dietary recall and food record collection. It is designed for self-administration, and thus requires the study participant have internet
access and some level of literacy and familiarity with computers or mobile devices.
The NDSR and ASA24 differ in a variety of important ways beyond platform and mode of use. To summarize, NDSR has more foods, nutrients, and quality assurance capabilities than ASA24. In addition, NDSR includes features that allow for analyzing the nutrient content of recipes and planning menus that meet study-specified nutrient targets.
More details regarding the differences and similarities of the NDSR and ASA24 are provided at the following links:
Historical Record of Nutrient Data Sources for Foods in NDSR
NCC is committed to providing you with verified and updated nutrient values in each version of our database and NDSR. In fact, did you know that NCC maintains a Reference Food Table containing a permanent
historical record of every nutrient and other data element (e.g. retention factors, yield factors) used for foods into the NCC Food and Nutrient Database? Detailed records of all data sources and
imputation procedures are maintained for each nutrient value. If you have a question about a specific nutrient value for a food entered into NDSR, you can contact us at ndsrhelp@umn.edu to inquire about the data source.
January NDSR Training on Zoom
The
NDSR Training Workshop scheduled for January 11-12, 2021 will be conducted by Zoom. Register hereby December 30 if you are interested in the January training. If the limited seats in the training are filled, registration will close early. We anticipate that NDSR Training Workshops will be virtual trainings through at least June 2021.
New Foods
The
following new foods are available to you at no additional charge with this edition of the NCC News Bite. A New Foods Backup File is available for download on our website under New Food Backup Files, “December 2020”.
Orgain Plant Based Protein Powder – Vanilla
Lavva Non-Dairy Yogurt – Vanilla
Starbucks Egg White & Roasted Red Pepper Sous Vide Egg Bites
We want to make sure that everyone knows that NDSR 2020 is now available! If your annual support is current as of July, the primary account holder at your institution should have received an email with a link to download the newest version of NDSR. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend upgrading to NDSR 2020, as we have made program improvements and added new foods. For tips on upgrading, see our FAQ page and click on ‘Upgrading’. If you did not receive an email with an upgrade link, contact NDSRhelp@umn.edu.
New Tutorials for the Menu Planner Feature
We have posted three short online tutorials on our website to help you learn how to use the new Menu Planner feature available in NDSR 2020.
Chapter 6 in the NDSR 2020 User Manual also includes detailed instructions on using the Menu Planner feature.
Foods consumed by Black immigrant groups being expanded in NDSR!
NCC is undertaking a new initiative to add foods consumed by the following immigrant groups to NDSR: Nigerian-American, Jamaican-American, Haitian-American, and Somali-American. We anticipate adding foods over a multi-year period, beginning with NDSR 2021. We would love to hear from you about your needs in this area as well as any resources (e.g. recipes, cookbooks, etc.) that might be helpful to us (email NDSRhelp@umn.edu).
November NDSR Training on Zoom
NCC conducted NDSR Training Workshops by Zoom since June with great success. Feedback received from trainees continues to be positive. Future NDSR Training Workshops by Zoom are scheduled for November 9-10 and January 11-12. Register here by October 29 if you are interested in the November training. If the limited seats in the training are filled, registration will close early.
Certification After NDSR Training
Individuals who attend our two day NDSR Training are eligible to be NDSR Certified (additional fee applies). The certification process consists of completing ten practice recalls and two certification recalls with NCC trainers. We recommend that trainees start their certification process within three to four months of when they attend the training workshop, as those who wait longer have a harder time passing their certification. We now have a policy that individuals must complete their certification within two years of attending training. After that, the certification fee will be charged again if you want to be certified. For those who have paid for certification and attended training more than two years ago, we are granting a one year grace period. If you complete your certification by November 1, 2021, you will not be charged again. Email Julia Lorenzana Peasley at peas0027@umn.edu to initiate your certification process or ask questions.
To
support research on omega-6 fatty acids, we are adding the major Omega-6 fatty acids found in food (PUFA
18:2 n-6; PUFA 18:3 n-6; PUFA 20:4 n-6) to NDSR 2020. In addition, total Omega-6 (sum of the individual
omega-6 fatty acids) is being added to the database and program.
REMINDERS:
When new nutrients or food components are added to the database and NDSR program, the new values will appear in new columns at the end of NDSR output files.
Also, you can obtain new nutrients and food components for records entered in olderversions of the program by restoring records and generating outputfiles in the latest version of NDSR.
Tips for Using NDSR with
Dual Monitors
As using dual or multiple
computer monitors is becoming more common in the workplace, we want to let you know that NDSR works best when you use it on your primary monitor. Some functions in NDSR do not work correctly
if used on a secondary monitor. Also, if
you use NDSR on your secondary monitor during one session and then disconnect the secondary monitor for the following work session, you will have problems accessing all NDSR windows on the primary monitor. To prevent this from happening, move all NDSR
windows back to the primary monitor before disconnecting the secondary monitor.
Caution in Using Individual
Nutrients (NTRNs) in NDSR
It has come to our attention recently that some NDSR users are adding or subtracting individual nutrients (NTRNs) to User Recipes in NDSR. This is being done to create User Recipes for commercial products that match the Nutrition Facts panel, and we advise against
doing this for the reason described in the paragraph that follows.
The NTRNs in the database were
designed primarily for users who wish to create a User Recipe for a food for which nutrient values were determined by chemically analyzing the food in a laboratory setting. Beyond this intended use, the NTRNs have a limitation. The limitation is that NTRNS do not relate to any other nutrients or food components in the database. For example, if you add total protein to a User Recipe using the NTRN for protein, you are adding a specific amount of protein, but not adding calories or any of the individual amino acids associated with that protein. Another example is the lack of relationship between different forms or units for a nutrient. For example if the NTRN for vitamin A in International Units is used to add vitamin A to a food, the other forms of this nutrient (e.g. vitamin A in Retinol Activity
Equivalents and Retinol Equivalents) are not added.
Please note that if you are trying
to adjust the micronutrients of a food, you may want to use the components for
food fortification in NDSR, which we refer to as SFORs. For example, if you want to make a User
Recipe for a food to better match a product label, you could start with an NDSR food that is a close match (e.g. Cheerios).
Then add or subtract one of the components for food fortification, such
as calcium or vitamin C. We also advise
using SFORs with caution, especially when subtracting an amount, as the danger is a net negative value for the food.
However, the SFORs will more appropriately maintain their relationships
with other nutrients in the database as shown below.
The next image shows the
difference between the SFOR calcium (first search result) and the NTRN calcium
(second search result).
You are welcome to contact us with questions
about the difference between using NTRNs and SFORs and what might be best for your work. Contact us at NDSRHelp@umn.edu.
We know that
many of you are experiencing major changes in your workplace due to COVID-19.
We also understand that even during these challenging times your work is
critically important and needs to continue.
Please be aware that our User Support team is available to assist you
with any particular requirements with
your NDSR software licensing and technical issues related to COVID-19 remote
work. In addition, we will continue to process all new license requests and
annual support renewals.
Nutrition
Coordinating Center (NCC) staff are all currently working remotely, and
consequently it may take some extra time for us to respond to your questions. Thank
you for your patience. Please continue to email us at ndsrhelp@umn.edu for assistance with
your remote access needs and your regular NDSR questions.
We have heard from many of our NDSR users regarding
the significant impact that the public health emergency for COVID-19 has had on
their research studies. Our clients are
taking all the steps necessary to ensure the safety of their study participants
and research staff. Some studies have
transitioned to dietary data collection by phone instead of during in-person
study visits. A
sample procedures manual for the collection of 24-hour dietary recalls by phone
using NDSR is available on our website. Feel free to contact ndsrhelp@umn.edu if you have any questions about the sample
protocol.
The NDSR Training Workshop scheduled for May 5-6 (rescheduled from
April 27-28) will be provided in an online rather than in-person format. Registration for
the training will be available through Friday, April 17 or until spaces are
filled. Note that we will have up to six seats available for this
online training.
The June 15-16 NDSR Training Workshop may also be transitioned to an
online format, pending University and CDC recommendations regarding in-person
instruction and travel restrictions. Please contact Julia Lorenzana
Peasley (peas0027@umn.edu) if you have any questions.
Throughout the year, the NCC database staff is diligently working
to update the food and nutrient database that supports NDSR. This can be a
challenge with the rapidly changing food marketplace. Following are some of the
database updates that you can look forward to in NDSR 2020.
New – Variable ingredients for whole grain bread, pasta,
rice in mixed dishes and sandwiches
These new variable ingredients will allow users to select
between white and whole wheat grain options for many common mixed dishes and sandwiches,
allowing for more specificity.
Database Improvements in NDSR 2020
The following brands of meat
substitutes will be updated or added: Amy’s, Beyond Meat, Boca Burger, Gardein,
Good Catch, Impossible Burger, Morningstar Farms, Quorn, Tofurky, and
Worthington.
The following commercial entrée brands will be updated: Amy’s,
Banquet, Healthy Choice, Hormel / Dinty Moore, Marie Callendar’s, and Nestle
Hot Pockets & Lean Pockets.
The following fast food restaurants will be updated: Chick-Fil-A, KFC,
Papa John’s, Sonic, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s.
The following ready-to-eat cereals will be updated: Kellogg’s,
Post, and Quaker.
New foods added will include:
Lasagna, from frozen options
Veggie tots
Additional gluten-free pasta options (e.g. brown rice pasta,
edamame, lentil)
In addition, the frozen treats and lunchmeat food categories will
be updated.
No Price Increase for July 2020 – June 2021
Current prices
for NDSR licensing and annual support will remain the same through June 2021.
The NCC price list is available here.
NCC staff is working hard every day to update the NDSR program and the food and nutrient database that supports it. Here are some of the major updates you can look forward to in NDSR 2020:
Menu Planner Features
Several new features are being added to the Menu record type in NDSR 2020 to streamline use of NDSR for planning nutrient-controlled menus for feeding studies or planning menus in which there are nutrient targets.
These new features will allow the user to set nutrient targets with tolerance ranges for a menu, and then adjust food items and amounts to meet targets within upper and lower limits via a new interactive Planner tab window.
These new features were developed based on guidance provided by some of you who currently use NDSR to plan feeding study menus. We thank you for your input, and we are confident the new features will be enormously helpful to you and others using NDSR for planning menus.
New Nutrients – Omega-6 Fatty Acids Numerous studies have examined the role of omega-3 fatty acids in health. However, newer research has examined the effects of their lesser-known cousin, the omega-6 fatty acids, on risk for some diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. To support research on omega-6 fatty acids we are adding the major Omega-6 fatty acids found in food (PUFA 18:2 n-6; PUFA 18:3 n-6; PUFA 20:4 n-6) to NDSR 2020. In addition, total Omega-6 (sum of the individual omega-6 fatty acids) is being added to the database and program.
41st Annual National Nutrient Databank Conference
The 41st Annual National Nutrient Databank Conference, 20-20 Vision for Food Composition Data: Promoting Public Health Worldwide, will be held at The Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, April 19 to 22, 2020. Registration is available online.
NCC will have a strong presence at the conference. You may find the following NCC presentations very helpful and informative.
Title: Nonnutritive sweeteners in brand name food products in the U.S. marketplace
Presenter: Lisa Harnack, DrPH, RD, MPH, Director of the Nutrition Coordinating Center
Session: Use of Product Label Data to Promote Public Health
Date: Tuesday, April 21
Title: Distribution of Lignans in Different Food Categories
Drs. Harnack and Jasthi would welcome the opportunity to talk with you to discuss your NDSR needs and answer questions you may have about the program. Feel free to stop by their presentations or send an email to harna001@umn.edu if you would like to arrange a time to meet during the conference.
New Foods
The following foods are included with the NCC News Bite for January 2020. A New Foods Backup File is available for download on our website under New Food Backup Files, “January 2020”.
Arbonne Essentials Protein Shake Mix – Vanilla
Freschetta Gluten Free Pizza – Pepperoni
Jonny Pops Frozen Fruit Bar – Raspberry Blueberry and Cream
We have many resources and tools available on our website, but we have heard from some of you
that it can be hard to find the information that you are looking for. Next time you are searching for something,
try using our search bar by clicking on the magnifying glass (circled on the
image below) on the right side of the menu bar on our home page. Type in what you are looking for, and ‘Enter’. You can search on terms such as ‘HEI’,
‘output’, or ‘sample recall procedures’.
NDSR 2019 is here!
We want to make sure that everyone knows that NDSR 2019 is now
available! If your annual support is
current as of July, the primary account holder at your institution should have
received an email with a link to download the newest version of NDSR. If you haven’t already, we highly recommend
upgrading to the NDSR 2019, as we have made program improvements and
added new foods. For tips on
upgrading, see our FAQ
page and click on ‘Upgrading’. If
you did not receive an email with an upgrade link, contact NDSRHelp@umn.edu.
Updated SAS code available for calculating HEI-2015 Scores
One of the program changes we made in NDSR 2019 affects the NCC Food Group Serving Count System. If you are calculating HEI-2015 Scores using data collected in or restored in NDSR 2019 or a subsequent version of the program, we recommend that you use the new SAS Code available on our website.
Is there someone you want added to the NCC News Bite listserv?
Please email ndsrhelp@umn.edu with the name and email address for anyone you’d like added to our email list. We send out six to eight emails per year, and we never share or sell email addresses to external parties.
