What's New in fdsrch: A Smarter Way to Search for Foods

We've been hard at work improving fdsrch, and we're excited to share what's coming. Our QA environment at qa.fdsrch.com previews the next evolution of personalized food search—here's what's changing.

From Two Filters to Four Preference Tiers

Before: The current fdsrch offers two filtering options—Highlight (shown in yellow) and Exclude (hidden/shown in red). Simple, but limited.

Now: The new version introduces a four-tier preference system that gives you much finer control over your ingredient preferences:

Tier What It Does
Avoid Products with these ingredients are completely hidden from results
Heads Up Ingredients are highlighted so you can make informed decisions
Limit Ingredients are noted in results for awareness
Want More Products with these ingredients rank higher in your search

This means you can now tell fdsrch not just what you don't want, but what you do want more of—like extra protein sources or specific vitamins.

Preset Eating Styles

Setting up your preferences used to mean manually adding ingredients one by one. The new version includes preset eating styles you can apply with a single click:

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • Keto
  • Gluten-Free
  • Dairy-Free
  • Nut-Free
  • Paleo
  • Clean Eating

Select a preset as your starting point, then customize further to match your exact needs. Your dietary preferences, applied instantly.

Visual Macro Breakdown

One of the most requested features is finally here: macro pie charts now appear with each food item, showing the proportion of:

  • Protein
  • Carbohydrates
  • Fat

No more mental math or clicking through to nutrition facts. See at a glance whether a product fits your macros.

Color-Coded Ingredient Badges

The new interface uses intuitive color coding to make scanning results faster:

  • 🔴 Red badges — Ingredients you're avoiding
  • 🟡 Yellow badges — Heads-up ingredients to be aware of
  • 🔵 Blue badges — Informational/limit ingredients
  • 🟢 Green badges — Ingredients you want more of

Good Match Glow

Products that align well with your preferences now display a golden glow effect—making it effortless to spot your best options while scrolling through results.

Improved Ingredient Hierarchy Browsing

Beyond searching for ingredients by name, you can now browse ingredients hierarchically. Explore categories and sub-ingredients to discover what you might want to add to your filters, even if you didn't know the technical name.

What Stays the Same

Everything you already love about fdsrch remains:

  • 792,000+ FDA-branded food items from FDA FoodData Central
  • Daily data updates ensuring current ingredient information
  • Barcode scanning for in-store shopping
  • Cross-device syncing of your preferences
  • Complete ingredient transparency with sub-ingredient breakdowns
  • Responsive masonry grid layout that works on any device

Try It Now

Want to preview these features before they go live? Head to qa.fdsrch.com and take the new experience for a spin.

We'd love your feedback—let us know what you think of the new preference tiers, macro charts, and preset styles.

fdsrch — Everyone deserves to eat food that doesn't make them sick.