Data sources and licences

Alygn is built on public food data, open-source software and a few photos others have shared. Each one is listed here with what we use it for and its licence.

Health claims cite their own studies where they are made, so they are not listed here.

FoodData Central, SR Legacy

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

What we use it for: The nutrition figures for foods and recipes, and the kitchen measures that turn grams into cups and spoons.

What we changed: We picked the foods Alygn uses and matched each to the ingredient names in our recipes.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work)

Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov

FoodData Central, Branded Foods

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

What we use it for: Product names found by barcode, and the label facts of the products we show.

What we changed: We kept the barcode, the name and the label facts, and left the rest out.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work)

Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov

Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS)

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service

What we use it for: Figures for a food on a photo of your plate that our own list does not have, once you pick the closest match.

What we changed: We kept the name, the food group and eight nutrients per 100 grams, and left out drinks and baby foods.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work)

Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. fdc.nal.usda.gov

Average Price Data

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

What we use it for: What common foods cost, for the price of a recipe and a shopping list.

What we changed: We turned each price into a price per 100 grams of the food.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work)

Credit: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data. bls.gov

Purchase to Plate

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

What we use it for: Prices for foods the monthly price series does not cover.

What we changed: We turned each price into a price per 100 grams of the food.

Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work)

Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Purchase to Plate. ers.usda.gov

Open Food Facts database

Open Food Facts contributors

What we use it for: What a scanned product's label says, when the USDA list does not have it. Every product sheet built from it says so.

What we changed: We kept products sold in the US and Canada. We left out any whose calories don't add up from their protein, fat and carbs, or whose figures can't be true. We kept only the name, ingredients, allergens, serving and nine nutrients. What we serve is shared under the same licence.

Licence: Open Database License 1.0 (ODbL)

Credit: Contains information from Open Food Facts, which is made available under the Open Database License (ODbL).

Open Food Facts product photos

Open Food Facts contributors

What we use it for: The photos on a few product cards. A line under the cards credits them, and each card's ⓘ links to the product's page.

What we changed: We made smaller copies of the photos. They are shared under the same licence.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

Credit: Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0

Nutrition5k

Thames et al., Google Research (CVPR 2021)

What we use it for: How much of each food a real plate tends to hold, for reading a photo of a meal.

What we changed: We reduced each food's weights across the plates to a few summary figures.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Credit: Nutrition5k, Thames et al., Google Research, CVPR 2021. CC BY 4.0

HoloSelecta

Fuchs, Grundmann, Haldimann and Fleisch, ETH Zurich (2020)

What we use it for: Photos of packets on shelves, each packet labelled with its barcode number, for testing how well the AI reads a shelf.

What we changed: We made smaller copies of the photos to test with. None of them is in the app.

Licence: CC BY 4.0

Credit: HoloSelecta Dataset, Fuchs, Grundmann, Haldimann and Fleisch, ETH Zurich, 2020. CC BY 4.0

Recipe pictures

Alygn

What we use it for: The pictures beside recipes and planned meals. Most are made with AI to show the dish, not photos of our own cooking, so your plate may look different.

Licence: Alygn's own

Credit: Alygn