Why Open Food Facts is independent and open, and why that matters
Open Food Facts was created with a simple principle: Food information is a matter of public interest, and it must remain accessible to all. In fact, it plays a central role in public health, environmental sustainability, and individual decision-making. To serve this purpose, Open Food Facts is both independent and open.
Who is behind Open Food Facts?
Open Food Facts is powered by a global community: volunteers, researchers, contributors, developers,…
Whether it’s adding products, improving data, creating tools, or translating content, the project exists thanks to collective effort.
To date, over 100.000 contributors have added more than 3 million products from 150+ countries to the database.
Open Food Facts is often described as the Wikipedia of food products and it is already used by over 200 apps and services worldwide.
Why is it independent?
Open Food Facts is a non-profit association based in France.
It is not funded by the food industry. It does not display advertising. It is not influenced by corporate interests.
This independence ensures that the project remains focused on the common good and is not influenced by corporate or commercial gains.
That is also why each donation supports our commitment to remain independent.
Why is it open?
All our data is open data.
Our code is open source.
Our database is published under the Open Database Licence.
This means that anyone, from researchers, developers, to consumers, etc., can contribute, reuse or build new tools with it.
Everything we produce – data, software, content, etc. – is a freely reusable common good, which is part of the digital commons.
Our website and apps reach millions every month, helping people make better choices.
🤔 Why does it matter?
Open Food Facts provides a base of reliable data that can support:
- More informed food choices by individuals 🥗
- Scientific research on health and sustainability 🔬
- The development of public health policy 📢
- Improvements in product quality 📈
- Broader transparency and ethicality across our food system 🏭
How to contribute?
There are different ways to take part in the project:
- Scan food products and contribute to our open database
- Build tools using our public API
- Share the project with others who might be interested (check out our Presentation Kits)
- Support us financially with a donation
- Become a volunteer and/ or a member of the association (sign up to the Contributor Skill Pool)
Every scan, share, and contribution helps make food systems more transparent. 📲
