Looking for a database of the ingredients / nutrition facts of
products which are sold in the UK in the major supermarkets (Tesco /
ASDA / Sainsbury's). An asnwer should contain a reference to a source
of at least 8,000 items which is either public domain or can be used
or purchased for less than $1000

Hello, thank you for the question. I have provided links to a number
of databases that should proove useful. The first is a database
containing over 12,000 UK food brands with nutritional data. The next
is the most comprehensive European food database available. Finally, I
included a large European database on the properties of food and some
links to U.S. databases that may be helpful.

I hope this helps. Please request clarification if you need further
assistance with your question.

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UK Nutrition Database
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/

"Comprehensive UK food nutrition database and interactive tools for
weight loss. Over 12000 UK food brands with values for calories,
protein, carbohydrate, fat & fibre. Try it free."
http://www.shopguide.co.uk/Nutrition/

European Food Information Resources (EuroFIR) Network
http://www.eurofir.net/

http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43&sectionId=1116&parentSection=301&which=3#1664
"European Food Information Resources EuroFIR, the world-leading
European Network of Excellence on Food Composition Databank systems
(www.eurofir.net) is a partnership between 40 universities, research
institutes and small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) from 21
countries. EuroFIR aims to develop and integrate a comprehensive,
coherent and validated databank providing a single, authoritative
source of food composition data for Europe."

"As outlined above, the aim of EuroFIR is to develop and integrate a
comprehensive, coherent and validated databank providing a single,
authoritative source of food composition data in Europe for nutrients
and bioactive compounds with potential health benefits."

http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43&sectionId=1293&subSubSectionId=1292&subSectionId=1116&parentSection=301&which=1#1826
"A key development in the use of food composition databases in recent
years has been the advent of computerised databases and nutritional
analysis software, which allow easy access to - and manipulation of -
food composition data. As international trade and scientific
collaboration continually increase, there is a growing requirement for
food composition data to be compatible at an international level. The
European Network of Excellence in Food Composition Databank Systems
(EuroFIR) is leading the way in the development of a single
comprehensive source of food composition data for Europe."

The Physical Properties of Food DataBase
http://www.nelfood.com/
An extensive database of bibliographic references and experimental
data on the physical properties of foods over a wide range of
conditions and processes.

http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43&sectionId=984&parentSection=473&which=undefined
"The database has been developed and introduced by NELFOOD, a recently
completed European project.  The unique feature of this project is
that it provides a central repository of information, in both
bibliographic and numeric forms.  These are accessible to all
registered users - free of charge - to enter, edit and retrieve data. 
The application provides data tables with graphical output.  The
information has been carefully collected and reviewed over the
three-year period of the project by 24 project partners from 14
European countries from the Czech Republic to Switzerland.  A
procedure for quality control is in place.

The database contains a wealth of physical data on most major foods. 
At the time of writing there are:

*	
11031 bibliographic references 
*	
1488 evaluated datasets attached to literature references 
*	
260 physical properties (thermal, mechanical, mass transfer,
electrical, optical including colour)
*	
Knowledge bases on water activity and mass diffusion "

Budgens Nutrition Database
http://www.budgens.co.uk/pages/nutrition-form2.html

Institute of Food Research 
http://www.ifr.ac.uk


US Databases:

USDA Database
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

Nutrition Data
http://www.nutritiondata.com/

Google Search Strategy

-Google UK
"nutrition database"
"food database"
Internal website searches

Fascinating!

And so quick.