Help

Q. How do I search for food items?
A. Type a food name, e.g. “apple juice”, in the white space and then click on “What Am I Eating”. You will now see a list of apple juice products. To adjust the arrangement of the list, click on the Alphabetical A-Z tab. This tab is located at the top of the Search Results table. You can choose to display your search in alphabetical order from A-Z or Z-A. To view the nutrition information for the food product that interests you take your mouse and roll over the food item. A nutrition facts table will pop up.

Q. How do I search for food items within a brand?
A. Go to “Refine Your Search” and click on “Within a Brand”. You will see a drop down list of all of the brand names for the food item you have selected available in the database. Click on the name of the brand that interests you to turn that selection “on”. The list of foods from that brand will appear in your search results. To clear that search and turn the brand selection “off” choose “any brand” from the top of the drop down menu.

Q. How do I search for food items within a food category?
A. Go to “Refine Your Search” and click on “Categories”. You will see a drop down list of all the food categories for the food item you have selected available in the database. Click the name of the category that interests you to turn that selection “on”. The foods in that category will appear in your search results. To clear that search and turn the “categories” selection “off” choose “all categories” from the top of the drop down menu.

Q. How do I highlight a nutrient?
A. You may choose to have a certain nutrient (e.g. fat, sodium, fibre) highlighted in the nutrition facts results. Go to “Refine Your Search” and click on “Highlight a Nutrient”. You will see a drop down list of nutrients. Click on the nutrient (e.g. vitamin C) that you are interested in to turn that selection “on”. The amount of “vitamin C” will be displayed on your results list in two ways: a graphic blue circle with the nutrient content displayed under the listing of the food product or as a pop up nutrition facts table with the nutrient highlighted in yellow. To clear that search and turn the “highlight a nutrient” selection “off” choose “none” from the top of the drop down menu.

Q. Why can’t I find the food I eat?
A. First, check your spelling. If you’re still unable to find the particular brand or type of food you are looking for it is likely not included at this time. If you are looking for a food item that is not processed, e.g. apple, try typing “apple, raw” or “apple, cooked”. For “milk”, type “milk, fluid” and for “eggs”, type “eggs, fresh”.

Q. Why do the brand names not appear in alphabetical order?
A. The search results will show all foods listed alphabetically according the type of food, not by brand.

Q. Why do some foods have brand names while others do not?
A. Foodservice products will appear in blue capital letters. The Canadian Nutrient File items (entirely in black text) display average values for Canadian foods. These items are generally not branded, except in a few categories, e.g. cereals and margarine, where some brand names appear because manufacturers have made information available to Health Canada.

Q. What is Eatwise?
A. Eatwise is an online tool that gives consumers access to accurate, up-to-date nutrition information about Canadian foodservice products and foods listed in the Canadian Nutrient File*. Eatwise allows you to search for specific foods to check their nutrient content and to compare two foods, making your job at eating healthy a little easier.

Q. What foods are in Eatwise?
A. Foodservice companies and manufacturers that are participating in the Canada Food Tracker Pilot project have provided information about their products. The database also includes foods from the Canadian Nutrient File (2010)*. The database is not, however, a complete listing of all the food products you might get from foodservice or the grocery store.

Q. Why does Eatwise only include certain nutrients?
A. Eatwise reports calories and the 13 core nutrients that food manufacturers are required to provide for the Nutrition Facts tables on food labels.

Q . Why can't I search for the food portion size I want?
A. If you want the 'Nutrition Facts' for the portion size of a food that you eat such as one cup or 30 grams then use the 'Food Search' tool in eaTracker. The 'Nutrition Facts' on foods in EatWise are based on 100 grams or the portion size provided by the food companies who are participating at this time.



^{* Source (or Adapted from, as appropriate): Canadian Nutrient File, Health Canada, 2010 (electronic version at the www.healthcanada.gc.ca/cnf)}