Add a missing product

Where it goes

We do not keep a product database of our own. Every score on this site is worked out from Open Pet Food Facts, an open database anyone can contribute to, so adding a product there means it works here (and in every other tool built on it) rather than only for us.

A note so the hand-off is not a surprise: the add form is hosted on Open Food Facts, the same project's main site. Choosing a cat food category on the form is what files the product under pet food.

What to photograph

Two panels decide whether a product can be scored here at all. Most records in the database are missing one or both, which is why only about a fifth of them can be scored on all three pillars.

1. The ingredient list. Without it there is no score at all: not a low one, none. It drives two of the three pillars.
2. The guaranteed analysis panel. Protein, fat, fibre, ash and moisture. Moisture especially: without it a wet food cannot be compared to a dry one on any honest basis.
3. The front of the pack, for the name and brand.

Photograph the panels straight on and in focus. Contributors transcribe from these images, and a blurred analysis panel is where a good many of the implausible numbers in the database come from.

Check the barcode first

A mistyped digit looks exactly like a missing product. This checks the number against its own check digit before you go any further.

Or search by name: the product may be in the database under a barcode different from the one on your pack.