Able to report and edit inaccurate nutrition information

[jwvjwvjwv]

Relatively frequently, when I scan a food item, Fitbit correctly identifies the name of the food but the nutrition information is slightly off. Usually it's off by maybe 10 or 20 calories for the listed serving, but occasionally it's way off, even though the correct food item was found.

There should be some way for users to report inaccurate nutrition information, and to upload pictures of the food item (like when you're adding an item that couldn't be found) so that Fitbit can update the database.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[pelicanesis]

As I use your app, I find many, many errors in your nutritional database.  They seem to be data-entry errors.  For example, I found a sauce that on the label has 100 calories for two tablespoons.  Suppose someone accidentally said that it has 100 calories per gram?  That makes a BIG difference.  Errors are inevitable, the problem is that once they are introduced the user cannot rely on the data unless they enter it in by hand all the time, which is a shame since you provide the UPC code scanner which would be very handy if it was reliable.  So here's my suggestion:  • Within the app, when a user selects a product during entering their food eaten, whether that is from a drop-down or a UPC scan, somewhere on the page that asks for the amount eaten there should be a button for "report errors in this data".  •  With this suggestion implemented, users could very easily draw your attention to problems with the library so they could be quickly & efficiently corrected by Fitbit.  As it is now, reporting errors involves contacting support, which is why the errors probably persist.  It's just too much trouble!

[LanuzaFitbit]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[pelicanesis]

Well, seems to me that quite a few of the community members have already endorsed the idea.

It’s really frustrating. Today I scanned BirdsEye SteamFresh Broccoli with Cheese (Lightly Sauced) and the calorie numbers were off BY A FACTOR OF MORE THAN THREE. You have given the keys to your kingdom to amateurs, which is fine & dandy in my opinion, it’s kinda like Wikipedia. Except, it’s like a version of Wikipedia in some parallel universe where once someone puts in a completely erroneous entry, NOBODY CAN CHANGE IT.

Well, I guess we COULD change it, but the only way I see is to individually contact Fitbit and tell them about each individual case of an error, and do it via some convoluted series of steps involving emails to “support” that may or may not be answered, months later, by someone who doesn’t even check to see the facts before they respond.

Like, for example, your response today. Yes, I suppose it will be “interesting” to see if other users agree. Perhaps, even “interesting” enough for you to look into it and see that SEVERAL of your users have ALREADY AGREED?

Customer Support 101 — LISTEN to what people tell you. It goes a long way!

Cheers!

- Joe

Sent from a portable device.

[jaxrachel]

AGREED 100% this is so frustrating. PLEASE give us a button we can click to "Report incorrect nutrition data" that opens a window to take a photo of the nutrition label or, for common items like strawberries, check a box that alerts to review the USDA entry for this item.

[LanuzaFitbit]

Thank you for taking the time to share your idea @jwvjwvjwv.

Could definitely see this being used by a lot of users!

I'd say we keep this open to see what other users think.

[HollyMay]

Yes! This would be fantastic. 

[AbbyNM]

Yes, I would really appreciate having the ability to notify Fitbit when the nutrition is incorrect.  I find that it's about every 10th item I scan has the incorrect information and then I have to adjust the amount to get closer to the correct amount.  MyFitnessPal has this option, which is very helpful.  

[blakesaccount]

I think this really needs added to the system.  I found 2 today alone that are incorrect.  Both off by 10 calories. 

Please add this feature.

[Nichollinlove]

I've seen other threads with the same topic at hand. It's frustrating that you can't depend on accuracy from Fitbit. It happens to me ALL the time. Today, I tried to log a Turkey Bacon, Egg White, Reduced Fat White Cheddar Sandwich from Starbucks and it's listed as 350 calories. Starbucks labels this as 230. That's almost 100 calories in difference and I have no way to flag it as inaccurate. I assume because this is one of half a dozen threads I've seen on the topic with no interest in resolving the issue that Fitbit doesn't care if they provide people with false nutritional information.

[Gail60]

I have noticed that if I scan in a barcode on an item, whatever the serving size is for that item, if you change that to the portion you actually use (whether it is more or less) the only thing in the nutrional value breakdown that changes is the calorie intake.  Not the carbs, protein etc.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @Gail60! Great suggestion, thanks for taking the time to share why you would like to see this option on the Fitbit app. I've moved it into a similar suggestion. Hopefully we will have support from other users since more votes and comments an idea has the more visibility and momentum it gains.

[Gail60]

Thank you so much!!!

[ndbell80]

I see this is an older suggestion, but I think this would be so helpful! I think ideally this would be implemented with a button that says "Report Incorrect Data for this Food Entry," but even if that wasn't feasible, I would appreciate a link to a Fitbit blog post or something that has instructions on how to report incorrect data -- even if it was outside of the app. I just would like to know how to tell someone when the right food but wrong data comes up when you scan a barcode through the app. Thanks!

[jwvjwvjwv]

It's an older suggestion, but still nothing has been done about it :(. Fitbit, we still want this fixed!

[SunsetRunner]

It would be nice if they would add this to the water consumption area. It is a very important area but has been given very little attention

[Skeeter979797]

Barcodes often bring up the wrong item.  If there was a flag button where we could submit the photos like we do to add a new product, that would help everyone.

[IsThisNameInUse]

This is a great suggestion, and over 1 year old.  A few thoughts on this.  I am not a Premium user because of issues like this.  At least coming out with an official statement of fix/direction would go a long way to building value in the product.  Also, this seems like a simple fix.  Many of the entries already let you use a slider to adjust calories.  Put that on all entries, and give us a box to type a number because that slider is awful on a phone screen.  Then, have my phone remember it's entries, which I believe it already does. This would be a great, first incremental step towards fixing the problem, along with making the application much more user friendly.

After that, you need to synchronize edits and have a sort the list for the most edited items.  Start at the top, fix it, move on the next.  Also, review the published food list so that when there are multiple entries (look up Wheat Thins Original), run a clean-up routine to deduplicate the database.  Finally, there is clearly no regular maintenance to update the calorie counts as very, very often the amount displayed in the application differs significantly from the packaging or manufacturer website.  Overall, this seems like a development and quality issue, so it should be addressed much quicker than over 1 year.

[Nic-G]

Completely agree, at least once a day I hit an issue where something is wrong, often a serving size (for instance today a soup that clearly has half a pot on the labels as the serving side had only 1/3 in FitBit and again a single tub of Alpro yoghurt had a serving suggestion that showed up less calories than in the whole pot (which is the serving suggestion!). We should be able to report these errors and get them corrected, interestingly it always seems to be under, I suspect a number of people who use servings for eas actually are logging far less than they are actually consuming because of errors that you can't get corrected.

[ChristySquires]

RE: Why Fitbit won't allow your food entry that is less than or more than the serving size to adjust the nutritional info, not just calories.

I am considering using another system/app/device entirely, as I am dealing with food intolerance and health issues and my doctor has asked me to log everything.  When the new food item states serving size is 1 cup, yet I only log 1/2 the servings size (.5),  the calories are the only thing that changes in this logged food - not the fat, carbs, protein, etc....This is a HUGE flaw and serious issue that requires an immediate fix. Please help, Fitbit!

[smmartin10300]

Many of the barcodes I scan pull up the correct product, but the nutrition facts (mostly the calories) don't match the label of the product. It would be nice to be able to submit a correction for review to help make the app more accurate and to save all of us some time and heartache! 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @smmartin10300. Thanks for sharing your suggestion about allowing you to submit corrections to Nutrition facts with us! We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If your suggestion receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

Watch this space for status updates! In the meantime, try visiting Health & Wellness to talk with other members about all things health and fitness.

[Ahmad_H]

When I'm logging my food using the awesome barcode scanning I've noticed some of the food I scan have the wrong calories based on what's on the box per serving size. For example: I scanned the barcode for Healthy Choice: Sweet & Sour Chicken it showed up as 350 calories in the app but on the box it's actually says 390 calories. Someone must be trying to cheat on the calories 😂 I don't know how to edit the calories for that meal but I'm emailing you to hopefully add a way to submit a request within the app to fix meals for the correct calories. Here's pictures of this meal for the first example of issues I've noticed. Hope this helps. There's several other meals I've noticed that are inaccurate regarding calories being wrong and portion sizes. Please allow is to correct and submit these errors.

Sweat and Sour Chicken [Front of box] 

Sweet and Sour Chicken [Back of box] 

[IsThisNameInUse]

So the status is Reviewed by Administrator and we're closing in on 2 years now.  How about changing the status to either "Communicating plan to our valued customers" or "We don't really care, but we'd like you to buy premium services anyway?"  Just to be clear, are you getting the disgusted sarcasm in this post?  A fitness/calorie tracker that has no way to compensate for incorrect information is like buying a car that can only turn left; it works, but it's a terrible experience trying to use it.  If product management needs a nudge, see my post from ‎09-16-2019.

[LizFitbit]

Hi everyone, and thanks so much for sharing this suggestion! While we don’t currently have plans to release this feature, we always appreciate the passion and creativity that comes out of this Community. Since we know this idea is important to many of you, we have left voting open to continue tracking interest and will post another update if anything changes. To learn more about how Fitbit decides which suggestions get developed, visit our FAQs.

We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and your input is a big part of that process. We truly thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us.

[sodiumfreak]

For scanned foods and nutrients with missing nutrients, allow the user to edit and save a custom copy that will remember the information each time the food is scanned. Also add a submit missing information to fit bit, so the database is updated

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject