Now more than ever, we need your support !
We are often described as the Wikipedia of food, or THE global collaborative project on this subject. Today, our association needs your support to keep things running.
As a digital public good, we provide everything we produce free of charge. We have no shortage of projects and we manage to secure dedicated funding. But one aspect is particularly difficult to fund: the technical infrastructure.
⚠️ Important note — Open Food Facts is an organisation independent of the food industry. If you are a food company, we cannot accept donations from you. However, you are still welcome to share your product data with us in the interests of transparency: producers@openfoodfacts.org
But what is infrastructure?
Every time you scan a product on the Open Food Facts app, our servers search through 4.4 million entries, calculate the Nutri-Score, the Green-Score and the degree of processing, retrieve the photo, analyse the additives and send all this information back to you in a matter of seconds.
This happens 4 million times a month. Every month. Behind the scenes, there are servers, databases, backups, security systems…
🧊 That’s what infrastructure is: the hidden part of the iceberg!
The problem is that what cannot be seen does not attract funding
Infrastructure is invisible as long as it works. That is precisely why nobody wants to fund it. (95% of our funding is earmarked for specific projects, not for servers).
The true cost of it all
In 2025, running the Open Food Facts infrastructure will cost around €169,660 for servers, subscriptions, a full-time engineer, and volunteers who contribute dozens of days a year.
In 2026, the cost will be €172,360, but only 30% of this has already been funded.
The rest, we have to find it. That is precisely why we are raising funds at this time of the year.
The impact of your donation
Today, you can help Open Food Facts stay afloat
Open Food Facts exists because people like you have decided that food information should remain free, open and accessible to everyone.
Today, it is the infrastructure that keeps it all running, and it needs your support. Every donation, no matter how small, goes directly where it is most needed.
➡️ Our campaign is on Donorbox: https://donorbox.org/help-open-food-facts-stay-afloat
Please note: Your donation is tax-deductible for French residents.
