WikiFood

WikiFood offers the possibility to get information about interesting food products and to prepare the purchase and thus preventing threats. Affected persons and experts discuss food related topics in the WikiFood-Forum. Also non-allergic people can use the information for a conscious handling of foods and supporting a healthy way of living.

Fig. 1: Overview of WikiFood

Food producers are not forced to provide ingredient lists to any governmental or private institution for consumer information or protection. That means that neither a Ministry of Health nor a Ministry of Consumer protection in Europe has access to this kind of information. According to this, there exists no central database, where ingredients of food products can be looked up by customers and where food producers may publish food related information to the public. Since September 2006 ingredient information can be published and consulted on the independent food database www.wikifood.eu.

WikiFood builds up a volunteer network of food product users that fill up a database by typing in the ingredients lists of products that may be interesting for the community of allergy patients and consumers. Digital photos of EAN codes, packages, and ingredient lists help to validate the data entries. Data entry into the database is not limited to individuals. Additionally, import functionalities allow incorporating data from existing databases or text files. The producers can demonstrate their care and interest in food security by delivering information about their products to the WikiFood community.
WikiFood should act as a central contact and information point for:

• Food producers, willing to provide information about their products to the public
• Consumers
• Health professionals, consumer protection organisations

Fig. 2: Screenshot of a product in the database

The WikiFood Forum is a discussion board for everybody who wants or must live on a health-conscious diet. The forum serves a discussion platform especially for people with food allergies or food intolerances.Possibilities for exchanging private messages lead to the establishment of social contacts between members. Of course, the forum cannot replace the physician's counsel of individual health problems. However, one big advantage of this forum are the Medical Experts. In this user group are allergists, ENTs (Ear Nose Specialists), dermatologists and other food allergy specialists. They try to help the WikiFood users with their medical and health scientific knowledge.
An other distinction between the WikiFood Forum and other allergy related discussion boards is the close connection between the food database and the forum. So the user can easily find detailed product information related to a discussion in the forum.

Fig. 3: Screenshot of the WikiFood Forum

www.wikifood.eu, www.wikifood.lu, www.wikifood.de, www.wikifood.be, www.wikifood.at, www.wikifood.ch is an initiative of:
Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor
SANTEC
2A, rue Kalchesbrück, L-1852 Luxemburg
Contact: Norbert Rösch
Email: wikifood@wikifood.lu

• Institut für Medizinische Statistik, Informatik und Epidemiologie der Universität zu Köln
• Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg
• Ärzteverband Deutscher Allergologen
• Fonds National de la Recherche, Luxemburg
• Consumers and Producer of the WikiFood community