The project was launched on 19 May 2012 by French programmer Stéphane Gigandet[4] during the Food Revolution Day organized by Jamie Oliver[5] and has won the 2013 Dataconnexions Award from Etalab[6] and the 2015 OKFN Award from Open Knowledge.[7]
In May 2016, its database contained more than 80,000 products from 141 countries.[8] In June 2017, due to the growing ecosystem of apps and open data imports from various countries, this number rose to 880,000.[9] In October 2019 OFF passed the 1,000,000 products milestone.[10]
By the 10th anniversary in May 2022, the database contained 2.3 million products from 182 countries.[11]
Overview
Stéphane Gigandet presenting the project in October 2012 at the Open World Forum
The project gathers information and data on food products from around the world.[1]
For each item, the database stores its generic name, quantity, type of packaging, brand, category, manufacturing or processing locations, countries and stores where the product is sold, list of ingredients, any traces (for allergies, dietary laws or any specific diet), food additives and nutritional information. The nutritional value is calculated using the Nutri-Score.[12]
Each contributor can add or edit food items based on the information explicitly shown on the package.[13] As a result, the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) embedded in the barcode on the packaging of the product (when available) is generally used as the identifier.[14] Mobile phone applications allow for capturing photos and information that are reprocessed manually by volunteers.
Due to similar mechanisms for modification, extension, or deletion of content and structure, the project is sometimes compared to Wikipedia in the media.[5][15]
Since december 2024 United Nations considered it one of the 180 digital public goods[16].
Methodology
Scores developed by research teams
From nutritional information and product category, the Nutri-score nutritional score is calculated for each product according to the method "Nutri-Score". developed by Pr Serge Hercberg. It gives a synthetic view of the quality of a product from a strictly nutritional point of view.
The NOVA group of foods, created by Pr Carlos Monteiro has also been indicated since 2018"Nova Groups".. It gives an indication of the degree of food processing. A score of 1 means the food is minimally processed while a score of 4 indicates the food is ultra-processed.
Data historicization
As on Wikipedia or any other wiki, the information of products present on "Open Food Facts" is historized.
Reuses
The data is reused by various projects on issues related to palm oil, sugar, and location of the producers.[17]
The Open Food Facts app
Open Food Facts made an app for IOS and Android. The app allows for the contributors to quickly add products on the site (by photographing them and complete some product information). It can be used to scan the barcode of food products and directly see the nutri-score and the eco-score. It is also easy to compare different food products based on their ingredients.[18]
Open Food Fact Days
The Open Food Facts Days is an annual event where contributors can brainstorm. There are also a number of workshops.[19]
Related projects
In parallel with the Open Food Facts project we can note the existence of other similar projects:
Open Beauty Facts
In 2014 a version concerning beauty products.[20] In September 2018 the product database contains more than 8,100 references.[21]
Open Pet Food Facts
On April 1, 2017, the project Open Pet Food Facts was launched with the goal of replacing Open Food Facts. The April Fool's Day joke finally became the 3rd project after Open Beauty Facts. In September 2018 the product database contained nearly 1,000 references, with cat food representing almost 20% of these.
Open Products Facts
On April 1, 2018, the project Open Products Facts was launched with the objective of being the start of the database of everything. The April Fool's Day joke finally became the 4th project after Open Pet Food Facts. The database collects all products that do not belong to Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts or Open Pet Food Facts. The project was then reoriented to allow more circular consumption choices, and extend the life of everyday objects.
Open Prices
the project launched by the community aims to carry out a collaborative collection of prices.[22]
Financing
Financing Open Food Facts is strictly independent from the agri-food industry. The financing model relies on grants and patronage, as well as donations from the public. Open Food Facts also benefits from the support of Santé publique France for its health role on the Nutri-Score, from the European Commission via the NLNet program for open-source and from the philanthropic branch of Google, Google.org, for its impact on the environment. Other partners and supporters include the Afnic, Mozilla, Perl, Free and OVH foundations.[23]
In April 2021, Open Food Facts received a grant of 1.1 million euros as well as the volunteer support of 10 Google employees for a period of 6 months for the development of the new mobile application as well as the calculation of the Eco-score thanks to Machine Learning[24]· .[25]
Comparison of Open Food Facts and OpenFDA
Open Food Facts and OpenFDA are two initiatives that provide access to food-related data, though they differ in scope and origin. Open Food Facts is a community-driven open database that compiles information on food products from around the world, including ingredients, nutritional information, and allergens.
In contrast, OpenFDA is an initiative by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designed to make regulatory data about food, drugs, and medical devices available to the public through APIs. Both platforms facilitate data access for developers, researchers, and the public but differ in their data focus and governance, with Open Food Facts being community-driven and international, while OpenFDA is a government-managed resource primarily focused on U.S.-based regulatory data.
^"Mieux connaître ce que nous mangeons". ile-reunion.pressecologie.com. 3 July 2012. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013. Les étiquettes et autres emballages de nos aliments fourmillent d'informations : nature des produits, quantité, origine, ingrédients, à cela s'ajoutent les allergènes, les tableaux affichant la composition nutritionnelle, sans oublier les labels en tous genres, ou encore l'empreinte carbone.
