What’s in it? A typical question when shopping. But when it comes to food, it’s often difficult to find answers – especially when the ingredients are printed on tiny labels.
An open database for food information that lives from participation? Sounds exciting. And it is. The database is called “Open Food Facts” and can be accessed most easily via smartphone (Android and iOS) by scanning the barcode of a product. But a query via the website of the project is also possible.
Information on nutritional values and ingredients
Open Food Facts not only provides the ingredients and lists any food additives (E numbers) that may be included separately. The nutritional quality (Nutri-Socre), the nutrient values, the degree of processing (Nova-Score) of the respective product as well as information on alcohol or allergens are listed. Warnings can also be activated for the latter.
Keep an eye on the environment with Open Food Facts
Consumers also learn something about the CO2 footprint of food, its packaging and possible recycling. In this context, a so-called eco-score comes into play. Food properties such as organic, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, halal or kosher are also included.
If you want, you can compare different products with each other and also create various lists – for example for shopping or to track eating habits. These lists can be shared or exported as required.
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Register products yourself
It is also possible to contribute to the community database, which already includes well over a million food products. Every user can create an account with Open Food Facts and enter new products with photos and data.