Questions it 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Because the data is crowd-sourced, it can be incomplete, wrong or out of date, and recipes change.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
- Looks up a product by EAN or UPC barcode after checking the barcode's check digit
- Shows ingredients, listed allergens and traces, Nutri-Score and NOVA group
- Shows nutrition per 100 g: energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, fibre, protein, salt, sodium
- Searches products by name or brand, optionally limited to a country
- Compares up to five products by sugars, salt or energy per 100 g
- Checks a product's listed allergens against the ones you want to avoid
- Says how complete the entry is and reminds you to check the physical label
Tools
lookup_barcode, Look up a barcode. Use this when the user gives a product barcode (EAN or UPC) and wants to know what is in it, such as "what is in 3017620422003?". Returns the product name, brands, quantity, ingredients text, the allergens and traces the entry lists, Nutri-Score, NOVA group, nutrition per 100 g, a data-quality note and the Open Food Facts link. The barcode check digit is verified first. The data is crowd-sourced and may be incomplete or wrong: check the physical label. Not dietary or medical advice.search_products, Search products. Use this when the user wants to find food products by name or brand, such as "find oat milks" or "Nutella jars in Germany". Pass the words to search for and optionally a country (English name or two-letter code) and a limit of up to 10. Returns each product's barcode, name, brands and Nutri-Score; use lookup_barcode for the full entry.compare_products, Compare products. Use this when the user wants to compare packaged foods, such as "which of these barcodes has the least sugar?". Pass one to five barcodes and optionally sugars (default), salt or kcal. Returns a ranking from lowest to highest per 100 g with each product's other nutrition, Nutri-Score and NOVA group, and lists barcodes that were invalid, not found or lacked data. Crowd-sourced data: check the physical labels.check_allergens, Check allergens. Use this when the user asks whether a product contains certain allergens, such as "does 5449000000996 contain milk or nuts?". Pass the barcode and the allergens to avoid. Returns which are listed as contained, which as possible traces, which are not listed, and whether the entry has no allergen data at all. It reads the entry's allergen tags and ingredients text, which are crowd-sourced and can be wrong: it is a data lookup, not a safety guarantee. The physical label wins.
Add Food Facts in VS Code
VS Code reads MCP servers from mcp.json and offers their tools to Copilot Chat in Agent mode. A workspace file at .vscode/mcp.json applies to that project. For every workspace, run MCP: Open User Configuration from the Command Palette and add the same entry there. These steps were checked against the VS Code MCP servers guide on 2026-10-09.
Create or edit the file so it contains this server. VS Code uses a top-level servers object, not mcpServers. Merge it with servers you already have.
{
"servers": {
"food": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://food.openkrill.app/mcp"
}
}
}No command, no headers and no input variables for a key: Food Facts answers without a login. Save the file and select Start above the entry. VS Code asks once whether you trust the server: confirm it. Run MCP: List Servers to check that Food Facts is running. You should see lookup_barcode, search_products, compare_products, check_allergens.
Open the Chat view, choose Agent mode and ask: What is in the product with barcode 3017620422003? The Configure Tools button in the chat input lists the tools of each server, and VS Code may ask you to confirm the first call. The server is public and read-only. It sees only the arguments of each call, so do not paste secrets into the question.
Command line users can add it to the user profile in one step with code --add-mcp and the same name, type and url as JSON. The portable .mcp.json at the project root also works in VS Code, with mcpServers as its top-level key. An organization can turn MCP off through Copilot policy: if the MCP commands are missing, ask the admin.
If it does not work
The tool does not show up
Run MCP: List Servers, select the server and choose Restart. If it shows an error, choose Show Output to read the log. Check that the entry sits under servers with "type": "http", and that Chat is in Agent mode, where MCP tools are offered.
429 or rate_limited
Each server takes 60 calls a minute from one network, and some tools take fewer. Past that the call comes back as a tool error that starts with rate_limited: wait a minute and ask again. daily_limit means the server reached its shared daily cap, which resets at 00:00 UTC. A limit is not an answer, so do not read it as no results. For higher limits, ask support@openkrill.app for a key.
JSON entry has no type
Claude Code skips an entry in .mcp.json that has a url but no type. Add "type": "http" next to the url, or add the server with claude mcp add --transport http, which writes the type for you. The VS Code entry needs the same type field. Cursor and Pi read the url alone.
A call checked on 2026-10-17
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 2026-10-17.
{
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"name": "lookup_barcode",
"arguments": {
"barcode": "3017620422003"
}
}
}- status. ok
- name. Nutella
- notice. Open Food Facts is crowd-sourced, so entries can be incomplete, wrong or out of date, and manufacturers change recipes. The physical label always wins: check it before you rely on this, especially for an allergy. Not die
- url. https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/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.
Using it in production
Nothing to install and nothing to run: no package, no Python or Node.js version and no environment variable. Food Facts runs on our servers, and your client only needs the URL https://food.openkrill.app/mcp.
| Rate limit | 60 tool calls a minute from one network. initialize and tools/list do not count. |
|---|---|
| Daily cap | 5000 tool calls a day per server, shared by every caller. It resets at 00:00 UTC. |
| At a limit | The call comes back as a tool error that starts with rate_limited (wait a minute) or daily_limit (try after 00:00 UTC), never as a partial answer. |
| Key | None. Do not add an Authorization header or a key field. |
| Higher limits | Email support@openkrill.app with the server name, the calls a day you expect and what they are for. We answer within 1 business day. |
| Freshness | Some answers come from a short cache. Each guide shows the date of its checked call; repeat a call when you need a newer reading. |
| Uptime | Scheduled test calls check the servers through the same endpoint. There is no SLA yet. |
| Data | What each server receives and keeps is on the privacy page. |
Use it in other apps
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the Food Facts MCP server in VS Code?
Add food with type http and the url https://food.openkrill.app/mcp under servers in .vscode/mcp.json and save the file. Select Start above the entry, confirm that you trust the server, then use it from Chat in Agent mode.
Do I need an API key to run Food Facts in VS Code?
No. This server takes no API key. For higher limits, email support@openkrill.app with the server name (Food Facts), the calls a day you expect and what they are for. We answer within 1 business day.
What should I do if Food Facts does not connect in VS Code?
Check that the entry sits under servers, not mcpServers, and has type http. Run MCP: List Servers, select food and choose Restart, then open Show Output if it still fails.