The Open Food Repo is an independent and community-driven open database for barcoded food products, maintained by academic research labs and funded by grants from private foundations interested in nutritional science. Essentially, it’s a digital public resource designed to improve access to information about the different foods we consume.

So what’s so great about it? Simply put, Food Repo data is digitally available to anyone who wants to use it for whatever purpose. Whether that’s an app that needs this information to provide a service, a research project about nutrition that needs the data for analyses, or simply individual curiosity to answer a personal question about food, Food Repo data is here to be used and re-used!

Food Repo is an unusual nutritional database as it is genuinely open access - all data is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. In other words, you can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and also remix, transform, or build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give the Food Repo credit.

We need your help!

We need YOUR help to make sure that the database is always up to date. By adding new products or information, and by correcting information that’s not accurate, you can contribute to the wellbeing of this precious resource.

Most of the products in Food Repo (well over 300,000) are sold within the US. But for most of them, we are currently lacking real-world images. As a solution, we’ve built an easy-to-use scanning app called “FoodRepo Scan” (available on both iOS and Android) that allows you to take images of your barcoded food products at home, or in the store, and submit them to us so the entire world can use them.

Every item added helps build a greater understanding of our diets, and as few as ten items can make a huge difference! We appreciate all contributions - no matter how big or small.

Thank you for your help - the Food Repo and the many projects that use the data are deeply grateful for your contributions!