In order to provide trade data that is more meaningful to the processed food industry, these groupings tend to go across previously established categories and include some items considered non-agricultural. Otherwise useful means of measuring U.S. food exports, such as the BICO classification, the FAS classification, and the FATUS classification pose limitations, since HS codes need to be added and deleted to get meaningful data about processed foods.

This processed food Baby BICO aggregates particular 10 digit codes representing processed food products in Schedule B of the U. S. Harmonized Trade System under which all U.S. trade data are originally collected by the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Using aggregations that are meaningful to both professionals in the food industry and the public, processed food products and ingredients are assigned to 15 categories within the Baby BICO. Each category has at least five and as many as 14 subcategories of products that can be examined.