Net APItbca.net.br ↗
Access Brazil's TBCA food composition database via API. Get nutritional profiles, statistical data, household measures, and regional foods for thousands of items.
What is the Net API?
The TBCA API exposes 9 endpoints covering the Tabela Brasileira de Composição de Alimentos, Brazil's national food composition database. You can search thousands of food items by name or code with list_foods, retrieve per-100g nutrient values and household measure breakdowns with get_food_nutritional_profile, and run component-based queries to rank foods by a specific nutrient using search_by_component. Regional biodiversity foods and institutional foods each have dedicated listing endpoints.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/f3f96c01-69e8-48d9-8e26-b6765980f9d6/list_foods?page=1&query=arroz' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search for food items with filters and pagination. Returns a paginated list of foods matching the query, group, and type filters. Use list_food_groups and list_food_types to discover valid filter IDs. Paginates via integer page counter.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| page | integer | Page number for pagination (1-based). |
| query | string | Search query for food name or code (e.g. 'arroz'). |
| group_id | string | Filter by food group ID from list_food_groups (e.g. '65' for CEREAIS E DERIVADOS). Omitting returns all groups. |
| food_type | string | Filter by food type ID from list_food_types (e.g. '70' for PREPARO SIMPLES DO ALIMENTO). Omitting returns all types. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"foods": "array of food objects each containing code, name, scientific_name, group, brand, and detail_id",
"total_pages": "integer total number of pages available"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"foods": [
{
"code": "BRC0012A",
"name": "Arroz, creme, cozido, s/ tempero, Brasil",
"brand": "",
"group": "Cereais e derivados",
"detail_id": "n0REd3kv7e86D%2BViXWYUnQ%3D%3D=qVFrIUJyMsGsU0SmbrckEQ%3D%3D",
"scientific_name": "Orysa sativa L."
}
],
"total_pages": 1
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Net API
Searching and Filtering Foods
The list_foods endpoint accepts a free-text query (food name or code such as arroz), a group_id from list_food_groups, and a food_type from list_food_types. Results are paginated and each item in the foods array includes code, name, scientific_name, group, brand, and a detail_id used to fetch deeper data. list_food_groups and list_food_types return plain id/name arrays that act as the filter vocabulary for both list_foods and search_by_component.
Nutritional Profiles and Statistical Data
get_food_nutritional_profile takes a detail_id and returns a metadata object (código, grupo, tipo_de_alimento, nome_científico, descrição, name_en, name_es) plus a nutrients array. Each nutrient row has component, units, value_per_100g, and dynamic columns for each household measure defined for that food. The columns vary per item, so get_food_composition_household_measures (which accepts a food_code) is useful for understanding the measure names and weights before parsing those dynamic columns.
get_food_statistical_info surfaces the analytical depth of the database: for each nutrient component it returns desvio_padrão (standard deviation), valor_mínimo, valor_máximo, número_de_dados (data point count), plus a references field and a flag distinguishing analytical from calculated values. This is relevant for research applications where measurement uncertainty matters.
Specialty Food Lists and Component Search
list_biodiversity_regional_foods and list_institutional_foods expose two subsets of the database that are not reachable through list_foods. Regional/biodiversity foods use a cod_produto=XXXC format for detail_id, while institutional foods use the standard encrypted format with BRD-prefixed codes. search_by_component accepts a component in unit|TAGNAME pipe-delimited format (e.g. kJ|ENERGIA), an optional group_id, and an optional food_type, returning foods ranked by that nutrient's value_per_100g.
The Net API is a managed, monitored endpoint for tbca.net.br — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when tbca.net.br changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official tbca.net.br API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Build a Brazilian diet tracker that displays per-100g and household-portion nutrient values for thousands of foods.
- Rank foods within a specific group (e.g. cereals) by energy or protein content using
search_by_component. - Research regional and biodiversity foods native to Brazil via
list_biodiversity_regional_foodsfor food security studies. - Generate nutrient comparison tables for institutional meal planning using
list_institutional_foodsand nutritional profiles. - Display standard deviation and data-point counts from
get_food_statistical_infoin scientific nutrition publications. - Build a household-measure converter by combining
get_food_composition_household_measureswith nutrient profile data. - Filter and export food composition data by group and type for academic food science databases.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 200 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
| Team | $300/mo | 20,000 | 300 req/min |
| Company | $1,000/mo | 100,000 | 500 req/min |
Each endpoint has a fixed posted price per successful call — most fall between 1 and 10 credits — shown on this API's page before you run it. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does TBCA have an official developer API?+
How does the `search_by_component` endpoint work, and what format does the `component` parameter require?+
component value in unit|TAGNAME pipe-delimited format — for example kJ|ENERGIA. The tagname and unit must match identifiers used in the TBCA database; kJ|ENERGIA is a verified working value. You can optionally narrow results with group_id and food_type. The response returns foods sorted by value_per_100g for that nutrient, each with a detail_id you can pass to get_food_nutritional_profile.Why do household measure columns in nutritional profiles vary between foods?+
get_food_nutritional_profile response reflects these as dynamic columns on each nutrient row. To know the measure names and their gram weights before parsing those columns, call get_food_composition_household_measures with the food's code field first.Does the API expose preparation method details or recipe-level ingredient breakdowns?+
Are there any quirks with `detail_id` values for regional foods versus standard foods?+
list_biodiversity_regional_foods use a cod_produto=XXXC string as their detail_id, which is a different format from the encrypted IDs returned by list_foods and list_institutional_foods. If you are iterating across multiple listing endpoints, you need to handle both formats when passing detail_id to profile or statistical endpoints.