Foods high in vitamin D: ranked by France's official Ciqual table
According to the 2025 Ciqual table from ANSES, France's food safety agency, the top three everyday foods highest in vitamin D: “Cod liver, canned, drained” (54.3 µg per 100 g), “Cod roe, smoked, semi-preserved” (27.2 µg) and “Salmon roe, semi-preserved” (27 µg).
What it does
Vitamin D keeps your calcium and phosphorus in balance and allows bones, cartilage and teeth to mineralize. Without it, dietary calcium is poorly absorbed: in children this causes rickets, in adults bone softening (osteomalacia), and with age a fragility that predisposes to osteoporosis and fractures. What makes it unusual is that your skin produces it under the sun's UVB rays. How much depends on latitude, season, age, skin pigmentation, clothing and sunscreen.
The ranking: the 25 everyday foods highest in vitamin D
| Rank | Food | Group | µg / 100 g | % NRV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cod liver, canned, drained | Fish products | 54.3 | 1086 % |
| 2 | Cod roe, smoked, semi-preserved | Fish products | 27.2 | 544 % |
| 3 | Salmon roe, semi-preserved | Fish products | 27 | 540 % |
| 4 | Atlantic herring, smoked, canned in brine | Fish products | 22 | 440 % |
| 5 | Salmon, canned, drained | Fish products | 18.1 | 362 % |
| 6 | Swordfish, roasted/baked | Fish, cooked | 16.6 | 332 % |
| 7 | Soft-ripened washed-rind cheese, reduced fat, from cow's milk | Cheese and similar | 15 | 300 % |
| 8 | Rainbow trout, farmed, roasted/baked | Fish, cooked | 15 | 300 % |
| 9 | Pilchard, in tomato sauce, canned, drained | Fish products | 14 | 280 % |
| 10 | Atlantic herring, marinated, or rollmops, prepacked | Fish products | 13.2 | 264 % |
| 11 | European pilchard or sardine, in tomato sauce, canned, drained | Fish products | 12.5 | 250 % |
| 12 | Puffed rice, with chocolate, fortified with vitamins and minerals | Breakfast cereals | 12.5 | 250 % |
| 13 | Mackerel, fried | Fish, cooked | 12.3 | 246 % |
| 14 | Egg yolk, powder | Eggs | 11.4 | 228 % |
| 15 | Salmon trout, sautéed/pan-fried without added fat | Fish, cooked | 11.1 | 222 % |
| 16 | Corn flakes, sugar frosted, fortified with vitamins and minerals | Breakfast cereals | 11 | 220 % |
| 17 | Atlantic herring, grilled/pan-fried without added fat | Fish, cooked | 10.8 | 216 % |
| 18 | European perch, roasted/baked | Fish, cooked | 9 | 180 % |
| 19 | Corn flakes, plain, fortified with vitamins and minerals | Breakfast cereals | 9 | 180 % |
| 20 | Puffed rice, plain, fortified with vitamins and minerals | Breakfast cereals | 8.4 | 168 % |
| 21 | Puffed wheat, with honey or caramel, fortified with vitamins and minerals | Breakfast cereals | 8.1 | 162 % |
| 22 | Spreadable fat <= 41% fat, unsalted, with plant strols | Margarines | 7.5 | 150 % |
| 23 | Spreadable fat > 62% fat, unsalted, rich in omega 3 | Margarines | 7.5 | 150 % |
| 24 | Spreadable fat > 41% fat and <= 62% fat, half-salted | Margarines | 7.5 | 150 % |
| 25 | Spreadable fat, fat % unknown, half-salted (average) | Margarines | 7.5 | 150 % |
How much you need
The EU nutrient reference value (NRV) is 5 µg (200 IU) a day (Regulation 1169/2011), three times lower than current reference intakes, so a food with 100% of the NRV covers only a third of your need. EFSA (2016) and France's ANSES set an adequate intake of 15 µg (600 IU) a day from age one, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding. EFSA stresses that this assumes minimal skin synthesis: when your skin makes vitamin D, your dietary need drops and may even disappear. In the US, the recommended dietary allowance is 15 µg (600 IU) up to age 70, then 20 µg (800 IU).
Best sources, food group by food group
| Food group | Food | µg / 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Meat | Liver, calf, cooked | 2.52 |
| Chicken, meat and skin, roasted/baked | 1.5 | |
| Kidney, beef, cooked | 1.1 | |
| Fish and seafood | Cod liver, canned, drained | 54.3 |
| Cod roe, smoked, semi-preserved | 27.2 | |
| Salmon roe, semi-preserved | 27 | |
| Eggs and dairy | Soft-ripened washed-rind cheese, reduced fat, from cow's milk | 15 |
| Egg yolk, powder | 11.4 | |
| Quark, plain, 2-3% fat, fortified with vitamin D | 6.07 | |
| Legumes, grains, tubers | Bread, French bread, wholemeal or integral bread (made with flour type 150) | 0.86 |
| Mashed potatoes, made from flakes, reconstituted with whole milk, with added fat | 0.3 | |
| Pasta, dry, with egg, raw | 0.3 | |
| Fruits and vegetables | Chanterelle or girolle mushroom, raw | 5.3 |
| Button mushroom or cultivated mushroom, raw | 0.3 | |
| Raw vegetables, without dressing (average) | 0.08 |
Practical tips
- Oily fish first. Herring, sardines, mackerel, trout, salmon: in the Ciqual table, many provide more than 7 µg per 100 g (3.5 oz), such as grilled herring (10.8 µg) or baked rainbow trout (15 µg), and canned cod liver reaches 54 µg.
- Egg yolks and fortified foods. ANSES lists egg yolk among the sources. In the Ciqual table, fortified breakfast cereals show 8 to 12.5 µg per 100 g, and several spreads 7.5 µg. Read the labels.
- Sunlight counts, but not all year. Skin synthesis depends on season and latitude (ANSES): when the sun is low, food carries more of the load.
- Supplements: with your doctor. Vitamin D is fat-soluble and too much is possible: ANSES uses a safety limit of 100 µg (4,000 IU) a day for adults. If you think you're low, a blood test ordered by your doctor settles it, and your doctor decides on any supplement.
How this ranking is built
Values per 100 g of the food as described (raw, cooked, drained…), as published by ANSES, France's food safety agency, in the 2025 Ciqual table (3484 foods; vitamin D content known for 1570 of them). The everyday ranking leaves out spices, herbs, seaweed and condiments, supplements and foods for special medical purposes, baby foods, alcohol, and raw meat or fish (the cooked version is kept). To keep the examples varied, only one food per main name is kept (the richest). Values listed as “traces” count as zero; values below the quantification limit are not ranked. % NRV compares the content per 100 g with the EU nutrient reference value (5 µg per day, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011), the one used on food labels: a benchmark, not your personal requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Which food has the most vitamin D?
Top of the everyday foods in the 2025 Ciqual table from ANSES: “Cod liver, canned, drained”, with 54.3 µg per 100 g, ahead of “Cod roe, smoked, semi-preserved” (27.2 µg) and “Salmon roe, semi-preserved” (27 µg).
How much vitamin D do I need per day?
EFSA sets 15 µg (600 IU) a day for children from age one and for adults, including during pregnancy and breastfeeding, assuming your skin makes little. The US recommended dietary allowance is also 15 µg up to age 70, then 20 µg (800 IU). The EU label NRV, 5 µg, is three times lower.
Can you get enough vitamin D from food alone?
It's hard without oily fish. 100 g of sardines in olive oil provides about 10 µg in the Ciqual table, but most everyday foods contain very little. In summer, sunlight does part of the job. If you're unsure about your levels, talk to your doctor rather than supplementing on your own.
Sources
- Anses. Table de composition nutritionnelle des aliments Ciqual 2025. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17550133
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Dietary reference values for vitamin D. EFSA Journal. 2016. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4547
- Anses. Les références nutritionnelles en vitamines et minéraux. 2025. anses.fr
- Règlement (UE) n° 1169/2011 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 25 octobre 2011 concernant l'information des consommateurs sur les denrées alimentaires, annexe XIII. Journal officiel de l'Union européenne. 2011. eur-lex.europa.eu
- Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D. National Academies Press. 2011. doi:10.17226/13050
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