Imported recipe doesn't match website's nutrition info

sessa642
sessa642 Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've imported recipes by pasting the URL, and MFP has calorie counts and nutritional info that is way off (much higher) than the nutritional facts on the website I imported from. I've checked that number of servings is the same and ingredients/quantities are as well matched as possible. Seems odd that it could be so far off - like double the count. Any idea why or even which is more likely to be accurate, MFP or the original site?

Replies

  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    You need to go through every ingredient and work out if MFP has picked something appropriate from the database and/or parsed the correct quantity. It often doesn't. I prefer manually building recipes as the importer is terrbile.
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    Sorry I just re-read and you said you did that already. Maybe the website is just wrong.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    There's no generic answer to your question. There are some incorrect entries in the MFP database, so if it matched those to your recipe, MFP could be the problem. On the other hand, some recipe sites are pretty sloppy in their calorie estimates, so that could be wrong.

    This is tedious, but about the only way I know to pin things down is to look at each ingredient in an authoritative source, such as the USDA food database**. Start with the higher calorie contributors, and work your way down to lower-calorie ones, you'll probably find the discrepancy (if MFP's wrong) or find that the recipe site is wrong.

    If MFP is wrong, you can re-match an individual ingredient in recipe edit, though you may have to hover your cursor next to the right-hand side of the food entry (web MFP) to find the otherwise invisible "replace" option, or delete/add the ingredient (MFP app) or something like that.

    After a while, it's easier to recognize which MFP database are accurate, so this gets less tedious.

    ** https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
    For most recipe ingredients (basic foods), the foundation or legacy food categories in the search will be most useful, I think.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    Like Ann said, could be many things. I’ve found recipes on websites that include only the main ingredient, not the extras you serve it with. Like a recipe for steak with mushroom-onion gravy, clearly one serving includes both, picture verifies it. But the calorie count includes only the steak, not the gravy.

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