Why are most food searches based on manufactured foods instead of whole foods?

Hi, I'm a big confused.  When I do food searches for something like free range chicken breast I get only one option from marks and spencers, and apparantely nothing made by them has any cholesterol.

Is there any other way I could get more accurate nutritional information that isnt based on commerically made products but is instead based on whole foods and meats- aka unprocessed foods?

You need to try other search parameters.  Start with the most general such as "chicken".  When you get to that screen, you'll see, at the top of the list, a few selections.  Click on "chicken" there.  This will take you to a search screen that allows you to search within the selection.  For uncooked chicken, try putting in "fresh"  This will get you a list of uncooked chicken and chicken products, sometimes by brand name.  Free range of conventional, the calories will be the same.

For things like fruits and vegetables, I find I get better results when I use the plural, such as "apples".

Hi thanks for responding

and that does help a bit, though I do use the suggestions you  recommended.

but I find that the search is brand name heavy and I use a lot of whole foods not premade foods.  It would be great if we could use words like fresh or natural to by pass having to read through all the brand names because it's throwing things on there that arent related.  for example I put in walnuts and got a whole bunch of things that had walnuts in them, but i could not find organic raw walnuts.

As for free range chicken and regular chicken there is most certainly a difference. Corporate farmed chicken has alot more fat, bacteria and antibiotics.

the only reason this is such a concern for me is that by the time work is over and I've spend some time with my children and gone to the gym it's time for bed.

so though this site is doing a great job, it could be improved my making searches less time consuming.

actually I know what you mean, I feel the same way about searches.

Hi!  Yes, the search database does feature a lot of manufactured items - this is because most published nutrition details are for manufactured goods.

You can try using the option "limit to generic options" if you are looking for more basic ingredients.  Or, if you are entering a home made recipe, try our recipe analyzer.

the opposite is true too. lots of people love the brand name feature. Myself because I know the local brands would be similar from checking nutritional labels at the store. for example CC has Scotsburn dairy listed, Farmers and Baxters are not. At the store I can see they are identical for nutrition. So I use CC's listing for Scotsburn's rather than an English or American or a generic dairy's listings for the local brands I buy. (of courses I could list and tag it under food logs "add it here"  feature, but I have a hard enough time searching through the tags I have.)  You could always use the "add it here" in food log and tag it, if who you buy your organic food from has a nutritional value listing. ( big brand Amy's organic foods for example)  If they do not, what ever you use might be incorrect in the fine details. Remember it IS a free site-you get what you pay for - its like library services-you may never get an obscure magazine or book that has a limited appeal stocked in the library. Its not too likely you would ever get the information you want since values could change depending on what is used in the organic industry - too many variables. If you do not believe me you should try checking out egg weights. What one person lists as large is half way to another's listing as extra large. Unless you are weighing ever item in grams when you make a recipe and then weighing the cooked result again to compensate for water added or evaporated ( recalculate with ever reheating?) , one needs a fuge factor to multiply with to make as accurate as possible. The water weight loss or gain in cooking must be taken into account when you weigh out individual servings if you wish to be as accurate as possible. Who but a dietitian overseeing mass food preparations will consider it a necessary quality control for accuracy? Few cooking for family will be that fussy so there is always a certain amount of error.  I do not know if I'm been clear- take omega 3 eggs. Its only high in omega 3 if the chickens have a diet high in omega 3. So what your organic farmer feeds may be different from what another organic farmer next door to him might feed. Just imagine the variables when you think of what an organic farmer a few hundred miles away might feed.  Just use the best approximation you find, use the "Add it here" feature to tweak the values, tag it for your future use from that particular organic source, and note to yourself that nutrition may be better this month because you bought organic.