Use MyNetDiary's food barcode scanner and PhotoFood Service for lightning-fast tracking

Katherine Isacks, MPS, RDN Registered Dietitian

MyNetDiary makes finding and logging your foods a breeze with our food barcode scanner! Learn how to find and log packaged foods instantly and how you can use PhotoFood service to add new foods for your personal use and grow our extensive, accurate database.

Why use a food barcode scanner?

Did you know that MyNetDiary's database contains almost a million foods? Even better, our database only contains verified foods, avoiding errors of user-generated foods found in many other apps.

Our barcode scanner in the MyNetDiary app will bring up your food in a flash. If your food isn't in the database, no problem. PhotoFood Service will make it available to you (and other users) in no time!

How to use our food barcode scanner

Use our barcode scanner to quickly find and log any food product that comes in a package and has a barcode. From any meal or snack screen, tap the barcode scanner icon on the bottom of the screen. You can also select the SCAN tab at the top of the Search screen. Point your phone camera at the barcode. You will be amazed at how quickly your food and all the nutrition information on the label displays, ready for you to log.

Note: Barcode scanning requires an internet connection.

If the barcode scanner doesn't bring up your food item, use PhotoFood Service (described below) to enter it as a new custom food or database food.

You may find that you can type faster than you can scan a barcode, especially for products you frequently log. However, barcode scanning is a speedy way to find items you are logging for the first time. One advantage of barcode scanning is that the food item's full name will appear on both your daily records and your reports.

How to use PhotoFood Service

Use PhotoFood Service to add new foods to our database, create a new custom food, or request a correction to an existing food item found via barcode scanning. PhotoFood Service helps MyNetDiary grow our accurate and up-to-date food database to best serve users like you. Unlike other apps, which use crowdsourcing to populate their food databases, MyNetDiary experts still review each new food item request for accuracy. Here's how you can help.

From the Search screen in the app, select the Custom tab at the top of the screen, then tap Create Custom Food. Take a photo of the front of your food package and the Nutrition Facts panel as directed. Try to get a clear image, as our staff needs to read the package text for data entry and review. Next, tap Link Barcode to ensure that your new item has a barcode attached to it. This makes searching for packaged foods a breeze by simply scanning the barcode!

Your photos are automatically sent to MyNetDiary. We strive to add food items and update existing food items within 24 hours. You can choose to be alerted when your requested addition is approved. We add or update several hundred foods every day, including weekends!

Note: You also can type in nutrition information to create and log your new custom food. Without photo validation, this method does not allow a new custom food to appear in our database. However, it will be available to you and the people with whom you've shared it.

Use PhotoFood Service to update or correct existing foods

Because manufacturers change the nutrient content of their items from time to time, you may occasionally notice incorrect nutrition information. We appreciate your alert to needed updates.

If you find an error in a barcode-scanned food, tap Request Update to access PhotoFood Service for correction.

This will send photos of the food label to MyNetDiary so we can update our database. You can also start from a food label displayed on the app then tap Send Photos to help us update products. This will take you to the Update Food Data screen. You would then use PhotoFood Service just as you would when adding new foods.

When you tackle food tracking with MyNetDiary's food barcode scanner and PhotoFood Service, you literally increase your food log's accuracy, which brings you closer to the healthier results you want, faster!