Agent Tools / MCP install guides / Food Facts in Cursor

Food Facts in Cursor

Look up food by barcode. The MCP server is https://food.openkrill.app/mcp. No key. The steps below are only for Cursor. A call to lookup_barcode was checked against that server on 2026-10-01.

What this server answers

Look up a packaged food by its barcode, search for products, compare them side by side and check a product's listed allergens.

Ask "what is in the product with barcode 3017620422003?", "find oat milks sold in France", "which of these three barcodes has the least sugar?" or "does this product contain milk or nuts?".

Food Facts reads Open Food Facts, a free database that people around the world add to by scanning and photographing labels.

A product answer shows the name, brand, size, ingredients, the allergens and traces the entry lists, the Nutri-Score and NOVA group when known, and nutrition per 100 g (energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, fibre, protein, salt and sodium).

Because the data is crowd-sourced, it can be incomplete, wrong or out of date, and recipes change. Every answer says how complete the entry looks and reminds you that the physical label wins, especially for allergies.

The allergen check reads the entry's listed allergen tags and its ingredients text. It is a data lookup, not a safety guarantee, and not dietary or medical advice.

Coverage is strongest in France and Europe and thinner in the US and Asia. For recalls of food products, use the Recalls plugin.

Data © Open Food Facts contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL) v1.0. It stores nothing about you: answers are cached for a few hours, and the only lasting record is a daily count of calls per tool.

What it can do

Tools

Add Food Facts in Cursor

Cursor reads MCP servers from mcp.json. A project file at .cursor/mcp.json applies to that project. A user file at ~/.cursor/mcp.json applies everywhere. These steps were checked against the Cursor MCP docs on 2026-10-01. Streamable HTTP is the transport: a url, not a shell command.

Create or edit the file so it contains this server. Merge it with servers you already have. Do not replace the whole file if other servers are listed.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "food": {
      "url": "https://food.openkrill.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

No headers and no auth block. Those are for servers that require a token or a pre-registered OAuth client. Food Facts answers without either. Saving the file is the install. Open Cursor Settings, then MCP, and confirm Food Facts is enabled. If it stays disconnected, reload the window. You should see lookup_barcode, search_products, compare_products, check_allergens.

In Agent chat, ask: What is in the product with barcode 3017620422003? Cursor calls the tool over streamable HTTP and shows the arguments before it runs them, depending on your run mode. Approve the call the first time and read the result. The server is public and read-only. It does not see your repository unless the model puts repository text into the arguments, so do not paste secrets into the question.

A one-click Marketplace install does not exist for this server. The JSON above is the whole setup. Team admins can distribute the same url through a team marketplace, but that is an admin step, not something this page can do for you. OAuth redirect URLs in the Cursor docs matter only for servers that require sign-in. Skip them here.

A call checked on 2026-10-01

3017620422003 is the Nutella barcode in the plugin's starter prompts. The physical label still wins. The request below was posted to https://food.openkrill.app/mcp as tools/call. HTTP 200. Source: the Food Facts server, read 2026-10-01.

{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "lookup_barcode",
    "arguments": {
      "barcode": "3017620422003"
    }
  }
}

Repeat the call yourself if you need a newer reading. Cached answers expire. A rate limit is not a result: wait and try again. Nothing in the call is a ranking, a filing, or advice.

Same server, other clients

Terms used on this page

Source: plugin listing for food in this repository, and a live tools/call on 2026-10-01. As of 2026-10-01.