View sources of food data

Carb Manager’s extensive food database includes common foods like vegetables and meats as well as prepared foods and unbranded products that are found throughout the world, such as fried eggs or canned tuna fish. In addition, the database provides packaged food brands found in supermarkets and restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. While working to expand the global extent of the database, Carb Manager also encourages members to contribute to the food database.

Carb Manager provides search filters and tags to help you find foods and displays the source of each food’s nutrition information to help you log food with confidence. For example, all foods that are tagged as Common Food come from reputable sources that have verified the nutrition information, such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), while foods that are tagged as Member Food were created and published by Carb Manager members and have not been verified.

View food tags and sources

1. Find a food, recipe, or meal. Each food in the list of search results includes a tag, such as Common Food.
   Tip: Most foods in our database also include a Keto grade to help you identify whether they are suitable for a Keto diet. For details, see View Keto grade foods and recipes.
2. Select a food to open its detail screen, then go to the Nutrition Facts section to see the source of the food’s nutrition information, which appears below the Nutrition Facts heading.

Descriptions of food tags and sources

Foods in Carb Manager include one of several tags. See the following tags and descriptions to learn more about the source of food data in Carb Manager.

• Common Food
• Branded Food (Carb Manager)
• Member Food, Member Recipe, and Member Meal
• Web Recipe
• Premium Recipe

Common Food

The Common Food tag represents foods that are verified by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the University of Minnesota’s Nutrition Coordinating Center (NCCDB). Whenever you see the Common Food label, you can trust that the nutrition information is accurate. 

Branded Food (Carb Manager)

Foods that are tagged with a brand name are provided to Carb Manager from specific companies, including restaurants and supermarkets. This information has been licensed or purchased from a number of sources. Carb Manager appears as the source of all branded foods. Because branded foods change frequently, you may not find every branded food in the database, and some branded foods may include errors that you can report.

Member Food, Member Recipe, and Member Meal

The Member Food, Member Recipe, and Member Meal tags represent foods that are submitted by members like you. Member Submission appears as the source of all member foods. We do not verify the accuracy of member foods before they are published, but you can report potential errors to us and the community.

Web Recipe

The Web Recipe tag represents foods that were collected from a variety of recipe websites (searches are limited unless you are a Premium member). Their ingredients, instructions, and nutrition information have been optimized for Carb Manager members. The detail screen for a web recipe typically displays a source and a publisher. In some cases, the publisher does not allow the full instructions to be downloaded, so a link is included to view the original recipe. We do not verify the accuracy of web recipes before they are published, but you can report potential errors to us.

Premium Recipe

The Premium Recipe tag represents recipes that Carb Manager curates for Premium members, including thousands of exclusive recipes developed in Carb Manager’s kitchens by expert chefs. Carb Manager appears as the source of all Premium recipes. We verify the accuracy of Premium Recipes when they are published, but some information could change and become inaccurate over time. If you find inaccuracies, report them to us.

Scanned foods and sources

When a member scans a food barcode using the mobile app, Carb Manager first searches the master food database. Finally, if the food still isn’t found, we search the member-contributed foods. For more details on scanning foods, see Scan barcodes and snap pictures to log food.