Incorrect nutrition value
wainsweb1
Posts: 17 Member
Tesco's Peanut and Dark Chocolate 35g bars are shown as containing 6.8g of sugar on their packaging. When the barcode is scanned in Myfitnesspal, the sugar content is shown as nil. Any thoughts....?
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say nutrition is not correct and fix it - that should be an option when you do "view nutrition value"6
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Subscribers enter the nutrition information, so you are at the mercy of the person who entered it. As @deannalfisher said you can edit it as well.4
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I've lost count of the number of times I've reported errors in nutrition values. Yet when I next come to enter the same foods the same errors are still there. I've since reported this malfuntion of the reporting feature, but again the problem still remains.
Now I've found that the sodium content is wholly unreliable. Whoever calculates sodium in mg from salt in g needs to know this formula:
Salt in g x 1000 ÷ 2.5 = sodium in mg2 -
I've lost count of the number of times I've reported errors in nutrition values. Yet when I next come to enter the same foods the same errors are still there. I've since reported this malfuntion of the reporting feature, but again the problem still remains.
Now I've found that the sodium content is wholly unreliable. Whoever calculates sodium in mg from salt in g needs to know this formula:
Salt in g x 1000 ÷ 2.5 = sodium in mg
So, click the "Nutrition info" then when it asks if it's correct, click "No" and you will be given the option to edit it. Once you edit it, it will then be in your personal list in MY FOODS and you will have it to use going forward.
No one will fix it for you, that's not how this works. Whoever entered it the way it's entered did it the way THEY wanted it. If you want it a different way, you have to enter it yourself.13 -
Ok, got that thanks. Didn't realise that I could save it to My Foods. That still doesn't alter the fact though that error reports should be reviewed by the MyFitnessPal team - it says they will on the webpage. Anyway, if the errors are being caused by members submitting incorrect information, that's no help to other members who rely on the data. It means each new food item entered needs to be checked against the manufacturer's nutrition chart on the packaging.1
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Ok, got that thanks. Didn't realise that I could save it to My Foods. That still doesn't alter the fact though that error reports should be reviewed by the MyFitnessPal team - it says they will on the webpage. Anyway, if the errors are being caused by members submitting incorrect information, that's no help to other members who rely on the data. It means each food item needs to be checked against the manufacturer's nutrition chart on the packaging.
Okay...
You know there are probably a hundred million items in the food database, right?
Who is going to check them against some "label"?
Myfitnesspal says they will check errors, but I don't think they mean food entry errors, no one has that kind of time.
Also, manufacturers frequently change their recipes, portion sizes, and formulations on labelled products. Some items I buy regularly such as yogurts and bread and cereal products have changed their recipes and labels so many times I just gave up trying to keep up. Not only that, there is an allowable 20% margin of error allowed by law on labels (U.S.)
...and then there's the fact that a lot of people only care about the calories and don't even bother to add the other info like protein, carbs, sodium, fiber, etc.
No one is coming to save you!
So yeah, you have to vet every item you use in order to ensure accuracy if that's important to you. 9 -
Well, it's MyFitnessPal who said that error submissions will be reviewed. In any case, if other members' inaccuracies show, why don't my corrections overwrite them?0
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Well, it's MyFitnessPal who said that error submissions will be reviewed. In any case, if other members' inaccuracies show, why don't my corrections overwrite them?
I don’t suppose many people deliberately enter incorrect information, just for the giggles! They probably entered it in good faith, not realising the information they had was incorrect. Or they mistyped - just as you might.
I don’t feel that anyone can be appointed the guardian of the database! Certainly not me and probably not you! 😉
How irritated would you be if you entered an item (correctly or maybe even incorrectly) and next time you wanted to log that item you discovered someone else had had carte blanche to overwrite your entry?7 -
Well, it's MyFitnessPal who said that error submissions will be reviewed. In any case, if other members' inaccuracies show, why don't my corrections overwrite them?
Please give us the link where they say that. Because I think you may be making that up or you misread it.
It's just not feasible.
..and your corrections DO overwrite them - for YOU. In your MY FOODS. The person who entered it themselves still gets to keep THEIR entry.
In early days of this site, EVERY item got entered into the shared database by default. That's in part how the database got so big so fast.
Nowadays you have to actually tick a box to ask that it be shared to the database. So the initial plan was for each of us to have access to our own entries, but that people could look stuff up from their browser and get directed to this site. Crowd-sourcing your marketing is just smart, and allowing individual control via a personal private Food list is smarter still.5 -
I don't think for one minute that members set out to deliberately give false information. I just think they should be more careful because others will be relying on their accuracy.
If MyFitnessPal say that reports will be reviewed, then I expect them to be reviewed. After all, that's what they say they will do in the light blue banner at the top of their Submit A Correction webpage0 -
Since you don't give us a link...is it this one?
https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032274312-Food-Feedback-Report-incorrect-foods-on-MyFitnessPalAt MyFitnessPal, we aim to provide you with the most trusted and current information possible, so you can accurately track what you eat.
As of the latest version of the iOS and Android apps, MyFitnessPal users now have the ability to report and correct foods. If you see a food that contains missing or incorrect information, you can now tap “Report Food” and give us feedback!
"feedback" is not the same as, "We'll review it and change it."
I think that may be a mis-placed hope on your part...especially since there are millions of entries and no way for them to "check" it: what are they checking it against?
I think they would likely just delete suspicious entries such as, "Little children walking through The Big Bad Wolf Forest," or some other questionable body fluid entries such as, "Human blood one ounce," but I seriously doubt they're gonna do anything about a sodium amount being "off."
Even on this expanded explanation, they aren't saying they'll fix incorrect entries. That just doesn't even make sense unless it's one of the items that has a coding issue that was caused by a faulty upload by MFP on one of their admin-entered items like Garlic - raw, cloves - 1 = 1,000 calories (or whatever the absurd entry says.)
https://myfitnesspal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032622691-Some-food-information-in-the-database-is-inaccurate-Can-I-edit-it-
Maybe you are seeing something I'm not seeing. Can you screen shot it here? They just changed a lot of the Help desk articles.
It sounds like marketing double-speak to me.8 -
Can't seem to attach a screenshot here so I've saved it to the photography website Canon Irista that I use. Here's the link to that: https://www.irista.com/gallery/xqrzpebnohx8
Clearly, what's the point in Myfitnesspal saying they will review error submissions if they're not going to and, even more, if they're also not going to publish the corrections.
Anyway, it doesn't alter the fact that the app will continue to allow members to enter nutrition values (except me it seems), and for the sake of other members these entries need to be accurate.
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Can't seem to attach a screenshot here so I've saved it to the photography website Canon Irista that I use. Here's the link to that: https://www.irista.com/gallery/xqrzpebnohx8
Clearly, what's the point in Myfitnesspal saying they will review error submissions if they're not going to and, even more, if they're also not going to publish the corrections.
Anyway, it doesn't alter the fact that the app will continue to allow members to enter nutrition values (except me it seems), and for the sake of other members these entries need to be accurate.
Why can't you do this? The only ones you cannot change/edit are the green checked ones.
I see that on the app screenshot you linked it does say, "Review."
"Review STILL does not mean, "Fix," nor do they promise to change another user's saved food entry. That would be wrong, can you understated that?
I'm out; you're not willing to consider the very reasonable solution already offered by the site and explained in detail.
Continue to be upset. I am done wasting time on this. You could have entered 50 new foods in the amount of time you've spent on this thread.
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You'll need to ask MFP why I can't edit nutrition values. I did, but they haven't fixed it so I still need to rely on everyone else's input.
I didn't ask you to prolong this discussion. Like you I don't have the time either, but thank you for letting me air my views.0 -
Can't seem to attach a screenshot here so I've saved it to the photography website Canon Irista that I use. Here's the link to that: https://www.irista.com/gallery/xqrzpebnohx8
Clearly, what's the point in Myfitnesspal saying they will review error submissions if they're not going to and, even more, if they're also not going to publish the corrections.
Anyway, it doesn't alter the fact that the app will continue to allow members to enter nutrition values (except me it seems), and for the sake of other members these entries need to be accurate.
I avoid member-entered entries as much as possible, which is easy for me to do as I mostly eat whole foods. I get the syntax for that from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov and plug that into the MFP database to find admin-entered entries.
I used to contact Support directly when there were issues with admin-entered entries (they told me they will not do anything for member-entered entries) but this process was so annoying that I stopped.
Example: my issue would be marked Resolved when it was not in fact resolved - this was the designation to use to indicate that they has responded to me, which is not synonymous with resolution >.<
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kshama2001 wrote: »Can't seem to attach a screenshot here so I've saved it to the photography website Canon Irista that I use. Here's the link to that: https://www.irista.com/gallery/xqrzpebnohx8
Clearly, what's the point in Myfitnesspal saying they will review error submissions if they're not going to and, even more, if they're also not going to publish the corrections.
Anyway, it doesn't alter the fact that the app will continue to allow members to enter nutrition values (except me it seems), and for the sake of other members these entries need to be accurate.
I avoid member-entered entries as much as possible, which is easy for me to do as I mostly eat whole foods. I get the syntax for that from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov and plug that into the MFP database to find admin-entered entries.
I used to contact Support directly when there were issues with admin-entered entries (they told me they will not do anything for member-entered entries) but this process was so annoying that I stopped.
Example: my issue would be marked Resolved when it was not in fact resolved - this was the designation to use to indicate that they has responded to me, which is not synonymous with resolution >.<
>.<
No, but that is how I feel about this whole topic.
Not sure how MFP is going to hold on to members (unless they're like me and got here in 2007 when there were not any other better food databases.) It's really a problem, the database. If I was new I'd probably look elsewhere but I have all my foods vetted now and it would be more trouble to move.
I totally "get" the frustration.0 -
It would be a pity to try alternatives to MFP because everything else they provide is exactly what I'm looking for. I understand the problem with policing the database, but how many other organisations would allow their credibility to be determined by users who can input into it whatever they like?
Maybe MFP should start by simplifying the information they provide. I don't know what obligatory information is required in the US, but in the UK it's the quantity of salt that has to appear on the packaging not sodium. If MFP changed sodium in mg to salt in g this would avoid the biggest source of errors (the mis-calculation of sodium) that I've found.0 -
It would be a pity to try alternatives to MFP because everything else they provide is exactly what I'm looking for. I understand the problem with policing the database, but how many other organisations would allow their credibility to be determined by users who can input into it whatever they like?
Maybe MFP should start by simplifying the information they provide. I don't know what obligatory information is required in the US, but in the UK it's the quantity of salt that has to appear on the packaging not sodium. If MFP changed sodium in mg to salt in g this would avoid the biggest source of errors (the mis-calculation of sodium) that I've found.
And how many people do you think that MFP would have to employ, in every different country where they have users, in order to enter every single food into the database themselves?
And if you changed the sodium entry to salt, what do you think would happen with entries in countries where the information is listed by sodium...?5 -
It will be difficult to police the database, so why don't MFP make it less open to errors. The requirement to show salt is a European-wide directive, which accounts for a pretty big population. If the reason sodium is used by MFP is because most of the world refers to that and not to salt, then maybe MFP ought to say how to convert salt to sodium. The bottom line remains, and is my original comment, that members who submit nutrition values should be more thorough so that others can rely on the data without having to check new food items each time they are entered. In addition, if MFP say they will review 'Submit A Correction' reports, then that's what they should do. They said it.0
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It will be difficult to police the database, so why don't MFP make it less open to errors. The requirement to show salt is a European-wide directive, which accounts for a pretty big population. If the reason sodium is used by MFP is because most of the world refers to that and not to salt, then maybe MFP ought to say how to convert salt to sodium. The bottom line remains, and is my original comment, that members who submit nutrition values should be more thorough so that others can rely on the data without having to check new food items each time they are entered. In addition, if MFP say they will review 'Submit A Correction' reports, then that's what they should do. They said it.
And how exactly do you plan to make that happen?
Also, you have no reason to believe that MFP don't review your reports. It only says that they'll review them, not that they will do anything.1 -
It would be a pity to try alternatives to MFP because everything else they provide is exactly what I'm looking for. I understand the problem with policing the database, but how many other organisations would allow their credibility to be determined by users who can input into it whatever they like?
Maybe MFP should start by simplifying the information they provide. I don't know what obligatory information is required in the US, but in the UK it's the quantity of salt that has to appear on the packaging not sodium. If MFP changed sodium in mg to salt in g this would avoid the biggest source of errors (the mis-calculation of sodium) that I've found.
The whole point of MFP is that it is crowd sourced and highly personalizable. It can be used by anyone, no matter what their goals, what diet they like to eat, what country they are in, what health conditions they have, and how careful they want to be. The app/site is just a framework, a tool, all the responsibility is on the user to do the work to make it fit for them. The more they limit it, contain it, or try to make it more specific, the more people will find it doesn't work for them.
It can be labor intensive for the first month of using the app - you need to find good entries, create good entries for common foods in your particular diet that you can't find, personalize your goals and what info you want to track. But once you do the work, and stay consistent, it gets easier and easier. I've been logging for @ 4 years (2 years losing weight, 2 years maintaining) and now it barely takes me a couple of minutes a day to log. I spend more time brushing my teeth.
I agree with you that the report feature is misleading, but I think they should just get rid of it. Employing enough staff to curate the database would make it impossible for them to offer the free version of the app, which is what I've been using.8 -
It would be a pity to try alternatives to MFP because everything else they provide is exactly what I'm looking for. I understand the problem with policing the database, but how many other organisations would allow their credibility to be determined by users who can input into it whatever they like?
That users can add their own foods and the resulting huge database is why MFP is popular. If you couldn't add your own foods (which you can at Cron too), what would you do, ask MFP to add it when they got around to it? What about recipes (I would agree that recipes should not be made public).
The trick is learning to find the good entries.Maybe MFP should start by simplifying the information they provide. I don't know what obligatory information is required in the US, but in the UK it's the quantity of salt that has to appear on the packaging not sodium. If MFP changed sodium in mg to salt in g this would avoid the biggest source of errors (the mis-calculation of sodium) that I've found.
MFP does not provide the information, the people who enter it do.
In the US, sodium (in mg) is on the labels, so that is likely why MFP has that. So your change would mess it up for people in the US and other places that use sodium. (It's extremely easy to convert salt to sodium, I expect many people just don't care about either, or don't notice the difference because they don't care. It should not be difficult to create entries that work for you or find correct ones.)
Personally, the biggest source of errors on packaged-based entries I see are because package information changes and package information may be different from one country to another. So the entry you are saying is wrong and trying to get MFP to change may, in fact, be correct in Canada or the US, etc. But I don't log much packaged stuff anyway, so finding the whole foods entries was the trick that helped me. The options with smaller databases like Cron are much better for easy logging of whole foods, but would likely be a lot more work if you log lots of packaged stuff. You'd have to create your own, which you can already do here.4 -
As I said earlier, what's the point in the reports being reviewed, and members taking time to submit corrections, if nothing is done with them? Maybe as kimny72 suggests, why have this feature at all, but as it's there it ought to work.
In answer to carwyn, I don't plan on doing anything in addition to what I've done. I can't make it work. Hopefully now the matter has been well-aired, members will be more conscientious when inputting nutritional values; but I suspect what lemurcat2 has suggested is true, some don't care enough to be bothered.
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I think you are again ignoring the fact that an entry might be perfectly correct for the package one buys in the US, but be different from a package bought in Canada or the UK, so getting rid of the entry or changing it would be wrong. Similarly, there are often very similar versions of the same product, and something that seems like a wrong entry could just be for that other version.
The best solution is to make the corrections you think are needed and save it to your foods. Or, keep searching until you find the right version, which is often possible.5 -
Yes, I'll be using the "My Foods" from now on. But the bottom line is I don't really want to have to check every new food item that I scan.
Neither do I think that the problem is caused by variations between countries. I'm not bothered about minor errors, but outside the UK can you really buy, for example, a pack of 10 unsmoked back bacon rashers from Tesco that has zero salt! The problem really is members not entering data accurately.0 -
Who’s ‘carwyn’?
Also, how many members of MFP do you think are reading your post?3 -
As you probably know, I was referring to you. Apologies for getting your name wrong. When I sent in my first comment on 20th October I would have been quite happy to have just put my thoughts out there. The fact that it generated quite lengthy replies was pleasantly surprising.0
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To be accurate, you really do have to check anything new you scan, that's just how it is.3
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That's well understood. Thanks lemurcat2, and all other contributors to this discussion.1
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Ok, so I'm now using My Foods and the list is getting longer each day because sodium values have been incorrectly entered. But what a faff it then is if I want to enter a food item from it and I can't remember how the text starts, or whether I have actually entered it before. Wouldn't it be good if, when the barcode is scanned, I was given the option of using My Foods if I'd saved it previously.0
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