People who log your food should read this

BondBomb

Yes! There are wildly different numbers for the same items. Also if you find something is correct - please confirm. I rely on that quite a bit as I know MFP has a lot of smart and meticulous members.

senator_kang

I agree that anyone who enters information into the database SHOULD put it in correctly and completely. But the bottom line is that this is a free website, it's a free tool. If you can't put in the foods that you eat, but you expect that someone else should have done it already, and done it to your standards- perhaps you'd like to look into a pay site with a professionally maintained database of foods? I'm cool with checking the calories etc. on what I find in the database, and if it's right- awesome. If not? I put it in, myself. Sometimes it saves me some time, but otherwise: this whole tracking and weight loss situation is all up to me, anyway. It's free. I know, you were venting- or so it seems. I was just venting back. Nothing personal, just different opinions.

dixiewhiskey

I actually find it to be very accurate for what I am eating most of the time but I have seen A LOT of incorrect info as well. I ALWAYS double check nutrition info, not just what is in it but the portion size. People who scan foods and choose to add it to the database should really double check too - no excuses.

Also, pay attention to whether its Canadian, American, etc as well cause despite a food item being the same thing, in Canada it could be 190, it could be 210 in USA.

TheNEWMonicaB

Thank you for posting this! I totally second that. It is so frustrating for those of us who are super conscious of logging their calories and making sure the entries are complete for all of the stats.

hellraisedfire

my favorite thing was when I scanned like, a pack of nails at a hardware store and they popped up as... I think it was like "organic pomegranate seeds". mmm nails. my favorite.

EllyG08

exactly!! Or just add it and it asks you if you want to add it to the MFP database.. DON'T!! It will be saved for your use only but not mess everyone else up who goes and clicks in good faith. hahaha I approve this post whole heartedly :flowerforyou:

^^^^THIS!!!

serenapitala

Definitely! It bugs me when I have to look through ten different listings of the same food to see which matches the package.

savlyon

Let me start off with - yes, i agree with you to some extent. Although, something you may not have considered when posting this is that companies tweak their ingredients constantly. Just today, I found two individual packs of chips ahoy cookies with different nutrition facts on the back. One I bought a couple months ago and one I bought this past weekend. So, the new information came up incorrectly because it matched the old info.

so, it may not be the person entering the information, just that the information is old.

I'm pretty sure the nutrition content of a Gala apple-medium doesn't change. Why are there 20 entries for it?

AnneC77

I agree, I really hate the 'Generic' items on the database. There aren't many foods that are Generic, different brands of bread have different calories and so does different brands of sausage, yet I have seen 'generic' sausage sandwich! Well was butter or spread included? what thickness is the bread? I could go on and on and on... *rant over*

jlapey

I pulled up an entry for spinach that said one cup of spinach has 6.9 calories but 10 individual leaves has 23. The entire 10 oz package has 65.3. The math hardly seems accurate as 10 leaves is a mere fraction of the container.

thoshowski

Just remember to look to see if that item is for Canada or the USA or another country. I know, I have had some cereals, where I go on MFP and it tells me different than on the package. It is usually because the suggested serving size is larger in the USA than in Canada. So, check the country and the serving size. Sometimes that will alter what the nutritional information is.

Vailara

I think that in the UK fibre DOESN'T count as carbohydrate. At least, it didn't a few years ago.

PriceK01

I double-check everything against the packaging. If I can't find a correct entry in the database, I correct one that's already there. Is that the proper way to do it?

LynnieG85

my favorite thing was when I scanned like, a pack of nails at a hardware store and they popped up as... I think it was like "organic pomegranate seeds". mmm nails. my favorite.

This isn't so unusual. A lot of people do bite their nails ...

KeepGoingKylene

Thank you for saying this, now if only everyone would listen! I always double check to make sure it matches the package when I use something that is in the database. Too bad we have to do this though!

invincible_summer

This bothered me today. With the packet in front of me, I went to list the food. I checked the database first and realised one of the two entries was wrong.

The food weighed 150g. The person had listed the info for the entire box according to the per 100g calorie breakdown.

The weight of the food is usually on the front, or side. 100g isn't the weight. That's just the system used to compare calories between different foods.

I don't mean to be harsh here, but it bothers me when people with bad maths skills add food to the database without knowing how to divide it into servings or calculate the correct weight per container. Use a calculator! All computers have one.

Another hate: when people only list the basic calorie count without giving details of fat, protein, sugar etc.

ScarletFyre

You know i am glad you brought that up - i notice that when i am logging in something I ate there are 112 entries for the same one thing, which is irritating to begin with (i.e. a package of yogurt i ate the other day....i put in the brand, flavor etc and got about 12 come up - not all the same).

When I enter something in from scratch, I put it exactly as it is written on the package - as you said - because it's not fair to others to anything else...if I am not sure of something, or can't find enough of the information to make me feel it is complete I sometimes won't put it in, or i will choose not to add to MFP data base.

However, you have brought to my attention that i really better start double checking more carefully what I choose to make sure it's correct...I've been a bit too trustful there...if the calories are or seem right I have been choosing it and not thinking to double check carbs etc.

Thanks for that advice - When we go to the trouble to log this stuff we want it right, and if incorrect things are going to be in there, we should at least have it in our minds to double check the accuracy.

speedgoose

I check them all the time because of this... and when I see an incorrect entry you know what I do? I edit and correct it.... problem solved.

Thank you for being solution-oriented in a problem-oriented culture.

ScarletFyre

my favorite thing was when I scanned like, a pack of nails at a hardware store and they popped up as... I think it was like "organic pomegranate seeds". mmm nails. my favorite.

This isn't so unusual. A lot of people do bite their nails ...

I scanned a box of K-cups just to see if the information would be in there - yes, i know that coffee doesn't really have nutritional value - i was playing, really...and it came up as a cucumber....

SuffolkSally

Yep, drives me nuts. The only thing is that having been here very nearly a year, most things I eat are now in My Food list, or I've edited and corrected the information. There's no excuse for it, but it has given me a laugh or two I suppose (the protein free steak, and the zero fibre spinach, etc).

It would be good to have some sort of star rating when a food's nutritional value has been confirmed by some of the many diligent MFP'ers who bother.

dgirllamius

I've found recently that about 90% of things which have been added in the past have all the wrong values.

Perhaps it's all different values with things changing all the time - bigger portions getting smaller and stuff. I don't see how people can enter the incorrect information unless something has actually changed with the food itself.

millabird

Senator Kang beat me to it: this is a free database editable by all users, hence the problems. I have also used a purchased tracking software, and did not have the same extensive database problems when the maker of the software is in charge of keeping the database up to date and free of duplicate entries. Also, I found the purchased software to have all units of measure for entries, and I really miss that. Very frustrating when you want grams but can only find cups, etc.

saouttolunch

I also wish they would check to see if the item is in there. It seems that most items have more than a couple of entries.

miracle4me

I also want to say Thank You to everyone who takes the time to put the corrected item in the data base. I looked up Avocado for instance and someone had put the correct calories in. I also appreciate it instead of grams since I prefer lb, cup,quart, ounces that is included. :flowerforyou: Thank You to everyone who also votes whether the food nutrients are correct this helps me make a decision many times. Thank You OP for this Post.

issyfit

There are tons of skim milk entries that don't include the sugars. It is fine and dandy if you don't worry about natural sugars, but that doesn't mean they don't exist!!

Yes--please include sugar for those of us who count sugar.

Fr3shStrt

Good way to make sure the numbers are right on something you have packaged....scan the barcode using your smart phone! This helps me with even making something up off the fly because I can scan each individual item and then it's my brand/amounts according to what I'm physically making for that meal. Helps tons....OH BEAUTIFUL ELECTRONICS!

Nope, I frequently scan products and end up with something entirely different. Example - jarred pasta sauce showed up as wine. Must be careful about that as well.....

And you still have to check the amounts, because they can be off as well.

Something similar happened to me but it was because I scanned the bar code upside down. Oops!

koshkasmum

For most foods there are multiple entries in the database- some more accurate than others. (My personal favorite is the one that give a calorie count of zero for a cup of mashed trunips and carrots - I figure maybe the person refuses to swallow them and therefore entered zero....) Your best bet is to use common sense and to look at more than one entry for the same food. I have no problems with correcting an incorrect or incomplete entry for a packaged/processed food, but I don't use many of them.

My pet peeve is entries that give information for "a serving" but do not tell you how big a serving they are referring to.

Bottom line, when it comes to calories, as in business investments, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true!

UsedToBeHusky

I didn't read this whole thread, but may I offer some perspective.

Some companies actually modify their products from time to time. This means the nutrition label changes.

bridgelene

Yes! I was logging something yesterday and on the barcode scan there were two options in the database already. One that said "______" and one titled "______ *correct version*". I clicked on the "correct version" first to compare and.....it was SO NOT CORRECT. Luckily the other version was correct.

But dang!

oldernotwiser

Absolutely! I double check all data with the package if I have one. For everything else I check with sites like livestrong and nuitritiondata to ensure accuracy.