Encourage improvement of the food database

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I am a long time user of MFP. But, many friends have tried it and moved on to other sites. The main reason being the confusing and conflicting ("crowdsourced") food database. My specific recommendation is to reward people (money, points, stickers, etc.) for identifying bad entries that go on to be deleted.

Here is an example: There are so many listings for chickpeas in the database, all of which have the verified flag.

Chickpeas, canned: 1 cup: 350kcals

Chickpeas, canned, reduced sodium, 1 cup: 360kcals (why 10kcals more?)

Chickpeas (no other qualifier), 1 cup: 736kcals (Woah! That's half my daily plan!)

Chickpeas, canned, 1 cup: 211kcals (Same name as above, different entry, different value)

Chickpeas, Progresso, 1 cup: 200kcals

"Canned Chickpeas," 1 cup 228kcals

"Dry Chickpeas," 1 cup, 756kcals

Chickpeas, Suraj, 1 cup, 720kcals (I guess these are dry)

Chickpeas Uncooked, 1 cup, 756kcals (at least that agrees with "Dry Chickpeas")

Chickpeas, Colavita, 1 cup, 336kcals

Chickpeas, Shahia, 1 cup, 360kcals

blueheron815

I agree, the "crowdsourced" database has gotten out of control. Another idea would be to show "USDA" after entries that are from their database. Or maybe put some symbol after individually added foods.

SeliasK

SafariGalNYC

I’d agree that is a great suggestion. Over the years - I input my own entries because I don’t find many entries reliable.