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QR codes for nutritional information

richardbytheway123
richardbytheway123 Posts: 1 Member
in Feature Suggestions and Ideas

To avoid the roulette of what nutritional information other users have associated with a particular bar code, could you develop a QR code format that stores the nutritional information.

Food producers can then add that QR code to their packaging, and MFP users can scan that to get the correct nutritional information.

If the content is well designed, the total amount of characters needed to store all the relevant information should easily fit into one of the mid-sized QR codes, so it shouldn't be any larger than the existing nutritional information panel on most food packets.

Make this an open standard, and everyone can join in.

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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,581 Member

    The problem with all the nutrition info on labels is that the manufacturers regularly change their recipes and their portion sizes. I'll use ice cream as an example.

    One brand I buy used to have the portions set at 1/3 cup, or 63g. Now it's at 2/3 cup (more realistic, honestly) and 96g. For one thing, that doesn't math out, but I'm not in charge of that. I'm more concerned that I didn't notice the change and it amounted to over 120 calories more per serving.

    There's just no way to make bar codes or QR codes work long-term. I have to be careful about nearly every [high calorie] food I use, even if I entered it into the database myself.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,121 Member

    Riverside's makes reasonable points about changes over a period of time. On top of that, the site is international, and there are country-specific differences in how nutritional values are calculated.

    On top of that, you seem to be implicitly assuming that MFP has the clout to persuade a meaningful number of food producers to put these special QR codes on their products. Realistically, I don't think that's going to happen.

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