Food Insights wrong data

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clematisa1
clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member
in Food and Nutrition

I just received the Food Insights for this week and it has recorded 2 for Sips and Spirits - as I don't drink alcohol and I check all ingredients to ensure that there is NO alcohol , I can't figure where the 2 have come from. I am apalled as I am Alcohol Free and have been for 5 years! Has anyone else had a similar problem recently? I think I will have to stop and delete my account as the app is obviously not correct and the information about Alcohol is particularly important. Especially for people in countries where NO ALCOHOL is acceptable. Eg. Saudi Arabia

Best Answers

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,130 Member
    Answer ✓

    Someone else reported a similar problem, where it put something in that section when they'd drunk no alcohol, yes.

    I can see why you'd be concerned about it, in an environment where alcohol is not legal. I hope they'll take that seriously.

    I think their odds of coding this so it always works are low, honestly, even with AI. About all they know about a food is the title of it, and the limited nutrient profile. They don't know the ingredients in the food, even. Even if they could use AI to suss out ingredients for some things, a lot of the food entries here are things people type in that don't match the name of any commercial food product.

    I suspect they're mostly going off the name. That's fraught. If it's "Margarita", is that an alcoholic drink with tequila and triple sec, or is it one of the alternate spellings for "Margherita" and therefore a food heavy on tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil? That's just a random example I can think of; there are lots of possibilities. Wine vinegars contain negligible alcohol, ginger beer is an alcohol-free soda pop, rye is a grain rather than solely a whiskey, and more.

    I sympathize. I'm thinking they might be better off leaving that off the report in countries where alcohol is illegal, if they can figure that out. At minimum, it seems like they could provide a link to the food(s) counted in each category on the report, so we could see what the issue is . . . and prove it to authorities if necessary.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,238 Member
    Answer ✓
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48547443#Comment_48547443

    Totally agree with the last paragraph. Even if this feature worked perfectly, I'd want to be able to see the specific foods in each category, but even more so while the feature is still a work in progress.

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,238 Member
    edited April 1 Answer ✓

    This is where feature suggestions and ideas can be posted: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/categories/feature-suggestions-and-ideas

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member
    Answer ✓

    Thanks AnnPT77

Answers

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 7,238 Member

    The food insights are a beta feature, still very flawed (based on some sort of AI probably). I would just ignore it entirely.

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member

    Thanks for that I have sent a report to the myfitnesspal team and they have responded to say that they received the information I sent. But nothing resolved as yet I will see what happens but I think I will probably leave this app for Nutracheck if they can't sort this.

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member

    Thanks for the supportive responses! I can only hope that admin take this problem seriously as it could get someone in a great deal of trouble in some countries, especially if their phone is checked…. Meanwhile I have checked out Nutracheck but is only free for 7 days. I have however found that my own health app has a facility to log food - the only downside is I will need to relog some of my usual foods as they're not on that database. But that I can easily manage. I await a response from admin to see if I remain on here. So far they have only sent me on a wild goose chase around their AI questions!!! Perhaps we're not dealing with humans when there's a problem any more…? But it appears that the bots don't even understand the question!

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,130 Member

    If you feel comfortable doing it, try posting in the "Feature Suggestions and Ideas" and include the part about users possibly getting into legal trouble from these false reports, if they live in certain countries. If you post there, and mention it here, I'd upvote and comment on your suggestion. I don't feel like I should do the OP there, because I'm not the one with the experience, but I'd be very comfortable commenting about how serious and important I think this is for people in your situation. The customer support staff reads posts in that area, but not here.

    I still wouldn't expect a quick response, but it might add weight to the issue.

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member

    I can't find any "Feature Suggestions and Ideas - it appears to be closed? So perhaps they don't have it since the last update?

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member

    Thanks all - I found it and posted as suggested - hope it can be fixed as otherwise I have to delete my account.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,130 Member

    As promised, I voted for it and posted to rant a little about how bad the situation is for people in countries where alcohol is illegal.

  • clematisa1
    clematisa1 Posts: 13 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48547226#Comment_48547226

    It's not something I'm happy to ignore as it could cause major problems going forward. Alcohol and its misuse is something which is taken very seriously in many countries outwith the United States and not something to be just ignored because of AI flaws. But thanks Lietchi for taking the time to respond.

  • McGee_MM
    McGee_MM Posts: 2 Member

    I have been a member since Jan 2025 and I have recently reported the problem of alcohol showing up on my weekly review. I went back week by week and looked at every day trying to figure out why it’s pulling alcohol and I don’t have an answer. I do not drink, and do not like seeing this in my weekly report. I would like to see this feature completely removed until they can fix the issue.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 37,130 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48568657#Comment_48568657

    @McGee_MM, please upvote this suggestion in the Feature Suggestions and Ideas part of the Community. It's a long shot, and changes are always slow, but I think this one might have a chance of gaining traction, the way it is framed.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10935995/food-insights-a-major-problem-with-alcohol-data-in-countries-where-alcohol-is-ilegal

    If you read the posts there, plus my first post above, you'll probably also get an idea of why this error might be happening. Pretty much all that MFP is doing is looking at the names of foods to decide if there's alcohol, so keywords that some food has in common with some alcoholic beverage can lead to mis-identification.

    If you're like me, errors in this report are annoying, but not a big personal risk. It's shocking to me that for some people it can be a danger, a legal risk, besides.

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