Independence & Transparency

We believe the public have a right to be protected from nutrition and food system misinformation.

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At foodfacts.org, our mission is to provide the public with accurate, evidence-based information, free from political, ideological, or commercial influence. We recognise that nutrition, food systems and health are subjects of strong views, varied interests and real complexity. To serve our audience well, we are committed to strict non-partisanship, independence, clarity and transparency in all of our fact-checking work.

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Editorial Independence

• All content published on foodfacts.org is guided by scientific evidence, clarity and the public interest.
• Donors, sponsors or affiliated organisations do not influence the topic selection, content, language or conclusions of our articles.
• Acceptance of funding or partnership does not imply endorsement of a donor’s product, point of view or agenda.

We select claims based on reach (generally focusing on social media engagement), public‑interest or potential for harm, and the extent to which claims rely upon scientific or factual assertions. We apply the same standards of evidence and methodology to equivalent claims, regardless of who made them or which viewpoint they promote. 

All editorial decisions regarding our fact-checks are made solely by our Research Team, in line with our internal guidelines and fact-checking methodology.

You can learn more about our Organisational Structure and How We Fact-Check to see how we safeguard the integrity of our work.

Non partisanship

foodfacts.org is not controlled by any state, political party, politician or advocacy group and does not focus its fact‑checking on any one political, commercial or ideological side. Our team members—including writers, editors, reviewers and core volunteers—are required not to engage in any public advocacy, campaigning or political endorsements that could reasonably be seen as conflicting with our fact‑checking work, particularly in relation to the topics they cover. As an organisation, foodfacts.org does not support any political candidate, party or campaign and does not advocate for specific policy packages beyond promoting accuracy and transparency in public debate about food. To protect our neutrality, we screen contributors for potential conflicts of interest and, where relevant, manage them through disclosure, reassignment of topics or recusal from specific fact‑checks.

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Why Transparency Matters

Much of the nutrition misinformation we see online comes from promoting a single diet or label as “the answer” to every health or environmental problem. Our own analysis of misleading content, conducted as part of the 2025 Nutrition Misinformation report by Rooted Research, found that posts that repeatedly use specific diet names are more likely to be associated with misinformation. We therefore take seriously the importance of not promoting any single diet as right for everyone. We also understand that without transparency about how we work, our own backgrounds and preferences could be misinterpreted as “taking sides”.

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Disclosure of background & potential bias

To address this, we are transparent about our backgrounds and the safeguards we use.

Our advisory board and contributors include people who consume animal products, people who follow plant‑based diets, and everyone in between, united by a shared commitment to accurate, evidence‑based information.

One of our founders, Robbie Lockie, has previously been associated with plant‑based nutrition outreach. foodfacts.org did not grow out of a desire to promote a particular diet, but from a recognition that sensationalised “diet wars” were crowding out careful, evidence‑based explanations. Robbie’s primary role at foodfacts.org is to use their media and communications experience to make our work accessible and engaging. Robbie does not write or lead fact‑checks on topics where that background could reasonably be seen as a source of bias.

Our editorial review system is designed so that no single person has sole responsibility for the content or conclusions of a fact‑check. Each fact‑check is developed and reviewed by multiple members of our Research Team and, where relevant, external advisers with different expertise and perspectives. This multi‑step review process is there specifically to minimise individual bias and to ensure we apply the same standards of evidence to equivalent claims, regardless of who made them or which diet they might favour.

Our focus is on the quality of evidence and how it can be applied in context, and on making this information accessible to the public. Where authors, researchers or contributors have relevant affiliations (such as research funding, industry connections or dietary advocacy roles), we disclose them alongside the article so readers can understand and weigh potential conflicts. Every quoted expert also has an associated personal biography page, made easily accessible so readers can understand their background.

Corrections, feedback & accountability

• If you spot an error, outdated information or something you believe to be misleading in our content, please contact us with feedback.
  
  
• We will investigate reported issues promptly and, where necessary, publish a correction or clarification clearly and transparently.
  
  
• We commit to reviewing our policies periodically and improving them as our field evolves.
  
  

Our policy on responsible ai usage

At foodfacts.org, we use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support our editorial process.

Image Creation: We use Google Nano Banana Pro to generate images for article covers and thumbnails. These visuals are intended to complement the content and do not depict real events or individuals unless otherwise stated.

Research, text and formatting support: We use Perplexity.ai, a collection of large language models (LLM), to assist with article formatting, drafting, or improving clarity and readability. Namely, OpenAi's chatGPT 5, Anthropics Claude 4.2 Opus, and others.

Human Oversight and Expert Review: Most importantly every article published by foodfacts.org is thoroughly reviewed by our team. We cross-check all sources, fact-verify all claims, and ensure the final content reflects accurate, evidence-based information. All materials undergo expert review before publication to ensure truthfulness, scientific integrity, and alignment with our mission to combat food misinformation.We believe AI can enhance the efficiency of our work, but final editorial responsibility always rests with humans, our researchers, editors, and subject-matter experts.

Call to action for you

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Thank you for visiting and trusting FoodFacts.org. We invite you to explore our work, challenge our findings, and hold us accountable, because healthy and sustainable food for everyone starts with clear, honest information.