Kilojoules in food: kJ per 100 g for common Australian foods

The fruit and vegetables here are 400 kJ per 100 g or less, apart from avocado at 650 kJ. Cooked rice and pasta are around 570 to 660 kJ, bread about 1,050 kJ, cheddar about 1,690 kJ, and butter and oil top the list at 3,070 and 3,690 kJ. Below are 50 everyday foods from FSANZ's Australian database, with kJ first, then calories and macros.

All figures are per 100 g from FSANZ's Australian Food Composition Database (AFCD), Release 3. kJ is calories × 4.184, rounded to the nearest 10.

Bread, cereals, rice and pasta

Fruit and vegetables

Dairy and eggs

Meat and fish

Spreads, fats and sweet things

Bakery and takeaway

Drinks

Reading the numbers

Water makes the biggest difference. Broccoli is mostly water, so 100 g is only 130 kJ. Oil has none, so 100 g is 3,690 kJ. That's also why cooked rice and pasta look so much lower than the dry figure on the packet: the same grain has soaked up water.

A flat white or latte with full-cream milk is about 200 kJ per 100 g, so the size of the cup matters more than the coffee. A commercial meat pie is about 950 kJ per 100 g; weigh yours or check the label for the whole pie.

Packaged food lists kJ per serve and per 100 g on the nutrition panel. The percentage daily intake guide explains the 8,700 kJ reference, and the kJ to calories converter does the maths if you think in calories. For protein-first choices see high-protein foods, and for takeaway, the fast-food calorie pages cover Australian chain menus.

Questions

How many kJ are in a banana?

A peeled cavendish banana has about 400 kJ (95 calories) per 100 g. To get your banana's figure, weigh it peeled and multiply: a 120 g banana is about 480 kJ.

How many kJ are in rice?

Boiled white rice is about 660 kJ per 100 g. Uncooked white rice is about 1,420 kJ per 100 g, because cooking adds water. Make sure you log the same state you weighed.

How many kJ are in pasta?

Pasta boiled from dry is about 570 kJ (137 calories) per 100 g cooked. The figure on the packet is for dry pasta, which is much higher per 100 g.

How do I work out the kJ in my serve?

Weigh it, then multiply the kJ per 100 g by your grams and divide by 100. For example, 150 g of something that's 600 kJ per 100 g is 900 kJ. On packaged food, the nutrition panel's per-serve column does this for the serve size on the label.

What does 8,700 kJ mean?

It's the average adult daily intake that Australian labels use for the % daily intake figure. It's a reference point, not a personal target. Your own needs depend on your size, age, sex and activity.

Where do these numbers come from?

FSANZ's Australian Food Composition Database (Release 3), the same whole-food data KiloMate uses when you search for a food in the app. We convert the calorie values to kJ at 4.184 kJ per calorie and round to the nearest 10 kJ.

Source

Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Australian Food Composition Database, Release 3. Brands, varieties and cooking methods vary, so treat these as typical values.

General information only, not medical or dietary advice. Talk to a GP or an Accredited Practising Dietitian about your own needs.