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Food and nutritional sciences: Websites

A guide to finding information in food and nutritional sciences. Includes links to key resources and sources of help.

There is a huge amount of information on the Internet but the quality is variable. Some reliable sources are suggested below.

See also the tips and suggestions to help you evaluate what's good and what's not!

Food additives websites

Food analysis & chemistry

Food safety: including microbiology, virology and toxicology

Nutrition and food composition

Tips on evaluating websites

Success

Before believing the information given on a web site, or quoting it in your essay or project, think about the following:

Authority

  • Who is responsible for the page/site?
  • Is it a reliable organisation (eg a well known university) or a subject expert?
  • Can you trust them?

Accuracy and reliability

  • Is the information correct?
  • Is the grammar and spelling correct?
  • Is it complete, or are they just giving one point of view?
  • Do they have their own agenda eg political organisations?
  • Is the information fact or opinion?

Currency

  • Can you tell how up-to-date it is?
  • Is it regularly updated?
  • You don't want to quote out-of-date information

Audience / relevance

  • Is the information of the right level to be quoted in your project? If it is aimed at the general public or school children it might not be!

Feel!

  • Is the site well structured and easy to navigate?
  • Are the links from the page up-to-date and valid?
  • If it is well designed and maintained then you can feel more confident about the information it provides

Citation example in the Harvard style

You should avoid citing webpages unless you are clear of their quality and suitability for inclusion in academic work. 

Office of Dietary Supplements (2018) Dietary supplement fact sheet: folate. Available at: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Folate-HealthProfessional/ (Accessed: 7 April 2022).

See the Citing references tab in this guide for more detailed guidance on citing websites.

Guides & tutorials

Food law

Market information

Organisations & institutions

Search engines

News

Man with a loud hailerFind the latest hot topics for the food industry using the RSS feeds below.

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Latest news from the Food Standards Agency

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