Open Food Facts website, open food database, nutrition labels, ingredients, allergens, product transparency, and WHOIS domain data

Open Food Facts

A collaborative website and open database for food labels, ingredients, nutrition facts, allergens, and product transparency.

Main website

openfoodfacts.org is the public domain for Open Food Facts

Founded

The project began in 2012

Model

Crowdsourced open data about packaged food products

Open Food Facts is a collaborative website and open database for packaged food product labels and nutrition information.View image on original site

What Open Food Facts is

Open Food Facts official site is a browser-based food information website and public product database. Contributors add barcode scans, package photos, ingredients, allergens, nutrition facts, labels, and other details from food packaging so that the data can be searched, corrected, reused, and built into other tools.

How the website works

The website is built around product pages. A visitor can search for a food, scan or enter a barcode through the wider Open Food Facts apps, view known label information, and see computed indicators when enough data is available. Missing or incomplete records can be improved by contributors, which makes the site closer to a public knowledge project than a fixed commercial catalog.

What the database stores

Open Food Facts focuses on information visible on product labels: ingredient lists, allergens, nutrition tables, brands, quantities, packaging, categories, labels, origins, stores, and product photos. The project also uses that raw label data to support derived signals such as nutrition, processing, and environmental panels where the needed fields are present.

Open data and API

The project publishes its database as open data and documents an API for developers. That matters because a nutrition app, research project, consumer tool, or public-interest analysis can reuse the same shared food-label base instead of building a private barcode database from scratch.

Who uses Open Food Facts

Open Food Facts is useful to shoppers checking products, volunteers improving food transparency, researchers studying packaged foods, app developers building barcode or nutrition tools, and public-interest groups comparing ingredients or labeling practices. Its value grows when many small contributions become a larger shared dataset.

Limits and data quality

Because records are contributed by users, the database can contain gaps, old packaging, duplicate products, regional variations, or mistakes. The API documentation warns that data is voluntary and does not guarantee accuracy, completeness, or reliability, so serious uses should check source photos, dates, and validation status instead of treating every field as final.

Why it matters

Food labels affect everyday health, allergies, dietary choices, sustainability claims, and consumer trust. A shared website for food product facts makes label information easier to inspect and reuse, especially for people and organizations that cannot negotiate private access to commercial grocery datasets.

WHOIS domain data

Data pulled: May 24, 2026View current WHOIS record

Domain: openfoodfacts.org
IP address: 151.115.132.10
Registrar: OVH sas
WHOIS server: whois.ovh.com
Referral URL: http://www.ovh.com
Created: November 11, 2011
Updated: December 26, 2025
Expires: November 11, 2026
Nameservers: dns20.ovh.net (5.135.249.213); ns20.ovh.net (5.135.43.97)
Domain status: clientDeleteProhibited; clientTransferProhibited
Contact privacy: Registrant, admin, and technical contact details are redacted for privacy.

Key concepts

Crowdsourced recordsProduct pages are improved by contributors who add barcode, text, and photo evidence from packaging.
Open databaseThe project publishes reusable data instead of keeping product facts locked inside a single app.
Label-based factsThe strongest records are grounded in visible packaging details such as ingredients, allergens, and nutrition tables.

Website features

Search products by name, brand, category, country, label, ingredient, or barcode.
Inspect product photos, nutrition facts, ingredients, allergens, labels, and computed knowledge panels.
Use documented API and data exports for apps, research, and public-interest reuse.

Common misconceptions

Open Food Facts is not a medical diagnosis tool or a substitute for professional nutrition advice.
Open data does not mean every product record is complete, current, or error-free.
A barcode match may still need checking because packaging, recipes, and regional formulations can change.

Open questions

How can open food datasets improve validation without discouraging casual contributors?
How should apps explain uncertainty when a product record is incomplete or old?
Can open product data pressure brands and retailers to publish clearer ingredient and sustainability information?