Questions, answered

We look up life cycle data from Agribalyse for every ingredient in a recipe, bring the different impacts together with the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method, and turn the result into one of five simple levels, from a very low to a very high footprint. You don't need to know any of this to use it, but if you're curious, here's the full story.

The nutrition rating shows how nourishing a recipe is, in five levels from very high to very low. It's inspired by Nutri-Score, the front-of-pack label used across Europe: per 100 grams, a recipe gains points for vegetables, fruit, pulses and nuts, for fibre and for protein, and loses points for energy, sugars, saturated fat and salt. Read more about the nutrition rating.

No. Our nutrition rating is inspired by Nutri-Score and looks at the same kinds of things, but it is Ecobite's own calculation for recipes, with its own five levels. It isn't the official Nutri-Score label you see on packaging, and Ecobite isn't connected to the organisations behind it.

The rating is worked out per 100 grams, from a fixed set of nutrients: points against for energy, sugars, saturated fat and salt, points in favour for fibre, protein and the share of vegetables, fruit, pulses and nuts. So a dish that is high in oil, cheese or salt can come out lower than you'd expect, however wholesome its ingredients. Even nuts, which earn points for being nuts, add a lot of calories which can also bring the score down at the same time. The rating is per recipe, not your whole diet, and it says nothing about how much of it you eat. See how the points are counted.

Climate is a very important part of the picture, but it's only one part. Food also needs land and water, and it can pollute rivers and seas with excess nutrients. A dish that looks great on CO₂ alone might ask a lot of the planet in other ways, so the footprint rating looks at these impacts and more, not at CO₂ alone.

The level, from very low to very high, is set by the footprint per kilo of food, so a recipe keeps its level whether you serve a small portion or a large one. The figures beside it, such as the kg of CO₂e, are the amounts for what you actually eat, which is why a bigger portion shows bigger numbers at the same level.

Yes. Agribalyse follows each food through six stages: farming, processing, packaging, transport, the shop, and cooking in your kitchen. These are average figures for each ingredient, not measurements of your own packaging or your own oven. More about the data.

The app shows four: climate change, nutrient pollution, land use and water use. The rating itself weighs all sixteen impacts of the EU's Product Environmental Footprint method, which also cover things like air pollution, the use of fossil resources and damage to the ozone layer. We show four because they are the ones that matter most for food and are the easiest to picture. More about the four.

CO₂e, or CO₂ equivalent, is a way of expressing all greenhouse gases (such as methane and nitrous oxide) as the amount of CO₂ that would cause the same warming. It lets us compare very different gases on one simple scale.

The Product Environmental Footprint is the European Commission's method for measuring the environmental impact of products across their whole life, from how they're made to how they're used. It brings different impacts together into a single score, using weights that experts across Europe have agreed on.

They are well-founded estimates, not measurements. Each ingredient carries an average figure from AGRIBALYSE 3.1.1 (2023), the French public database, with some additions of our own, and a recipe's result depends on the ingredients and amounts entered. That is precise enough to tell a low footprint from a high one with confidence, which is what the five levels are for; small differences between two similar recipes mean little.

Agribalyse describes food as it is produced for and sold in France, so its figures are closest for France and its neighbours. Elsewhere they are still a good guide: the difference between kinds of food, say lentils and beef, is usually far bigger than the difference between the same food in two countries. Read the footprint as a well-founded estimate, not as a measurement of your own shopping basket.

Not for the rating. Ecobite uses an average figure for each ingredient, so it can't tell where yours was grown, when, or how. That is less of a gap than it sounds: for most foods, what you eat counts for much more than where it came from, because transport is usually a small part of a food's footprint. What makes food sustainable?

Not always. Organic farming avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, which can be good for the soil and for wildlife nearby. But organic farms often grow less food on the same land, so per kilo, organic food can need more land and have a similar climate impact. What you eat usually matters far more than how it was farmed: beans, lentils and vegetables have a much smaller footprint than meat or cheese, organic or not.

Very often, yes. Meals built around vegetables, pulses, whole grains and nuts tend to have both a high nutrition rating and a low footprint. But not always: sugary drinks and sweets can have a small footprint and still aren't great for your health. That's why every recipe on Ecobite has two separate ratings, so you can see both sides at a glance.

Not to look around: you can browse recipes and see their ratings without one. A free account lets you track your meals, save favourites, add your own recipes, follow other cooks and get recipes picked for you. All it takes is a name, an email address and a password, or your Google account.

Ecobite is for people aged 13 and over, or the minimum age in your country if that is higher. If you're younger, ask a parent or guardian to create the account for you. About you, with its daily targets, is for people aged 18 and over.

You decide, in My Account under Privacy settings. Your public recipes, your name, your profile and your comments can be seen by anyone. The foods you track, your followers and the people you follow are hidden from others unless you switch them on. Your About you details and your daily targets are never shown to anyone, whatever you choose.

No, we never sell it, and we don't use it for advertising. We keep what the app needs to work for you: your account, what you add and track, and the preferences you set. It is stored in the European Union. Our privacy policy tells the whole story in plain language.

We email you about your own account when it's needed, for example to reset your password. Our newsletter and news about new features only come if you asked for them: you choose in My Account under Email preferences, and every one of those emails has a link to unsubscribe.

In the app, go to My Account and choose Delete your account, or email us at contact@ecobite.io. Your account and everything in it are deleted; people who personalised or tracked one of your recipes keep their own copy. We also delete accounts that haven't been used for three years, after an email 30 days before.

On the log-in screen, choose Forgot password and fill in your email address. We'll send you a link to set a new one. If you signed up with Google, there's no Ecobite password to remember: just log in with Google again.

In the app, scroll to the foot of Home, tap About us and then Report a bug. Tell us what you did, what you expected and what happened instead; leave your email address if you'd like us to be able to ask you more. You can also write to us through the contact form or at contact@ecobite.io. A real person reads every message.

Tap Report on the recipe's page or on the person's profile and tell us what's wrong, or email contact@ecobite.io with a link to it. You don't need an account. A person looks at every report, and we remove what breaks the law or our terms as quickly as we can.

First check the recipe's ingredients and amounts, since the ratings are worked out from exactly what was entered: a spoon typed as a cup changes a lot. If they're right and the result still looks off, tell us which recipe or food it is and what you expected. The figures are estimates from general food data, and we're glad to correct one that's wrong.

Yes, you just have to tell us which one you're missing. It can take a little while, because every food needs reliable nutrition and footprint data first. In the meantime, you can try another name for it, or pick the closest food, which usually gives a very similar result.