Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We intentionally minimize the collection of personal information. The information we interact with falls into three categories:

A. Information You Voluntarily Provide

When you use our Contact Form or submit a Data Correction Report, you may provide your name, email address, message content, and source citations. This information is used strictly to respond to your inquiry or verify agricultural database records.

B. Local Storage on Your Device

FoodAlt offers bookmarking, quick comparisons, and custom serving unit preferences. This data is saved directly in your browser's localStorage. It remains on your hardware and is never transmitted to or stored on our servers unless you explicitly share a link. You can clear this data at any time by clearing your browser cache.

C. Automatically Collected Technical Data

Like virtually all web applications, our servers automatically receive standard network request metadata when you browse pages. This includes:

• Browser type and version
• Operating system and device category
• Referring web page and requested URLs
• Time and date of the request
• Anonymized IP address for basic security and DDoS defense

2. How We Use Information

We process the minimal data collected exclusively for legitimate operational purposes:

• To operate, maintain, and optimize the speed of the FoodAlt search and comparison tools.
• To audit and update food composition records submitted by users against official repositories like USDA FoodData Central.
• To reply to user questions, bug reports, and research inquiries.
• To detect, investigate, and mitigate malicious bot traffic, scraping abuse, or security incidents.

3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

FoodAlt does not use invasive third-party tracking pixels, cross-site advertising identifiers, or behavioral retargeting scripts.

We may use minimal, strictly necessary session state (such as temporary cache indicators or theme preferences) that do not track you across other websites.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We rely on reputable technical infrastructure partners to deliver the website reliably worldwide:

• Hosting & Edge Delivery: Cloudflare / Edge CDN for fast global content delivery, SSL encryption, and DDoS protection.
• Public Scientific Databases: Public queries to USDA FoodData Central and scientific literature APIs for nutritional verification.

These infrastructure providers process data only as necessary to deliver their respective hosting and security functions.

5. Data Security

We implement industry-standard administrative and technical safeguards to protect any data submitted to us. All web traffic to FoodAlt is encrypted in transit using modern Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS).

6. Children's Privacy (COPPA Compliance)

FoodAlt is a general-audience educational resource and does not knowingly collect or solicit personal identifiable information from children under the age of 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information through our contact form, please contact us immediately, and we will promptly delete it.

7. Your Rights & Data Choices

Depending on your location (including under GDPR, CCPA, and similar regulations), you have rights regarding your personal data:

• Access & Portability: You can request a copy of any personal communication records you have submitted to us.
• Deletion: You can request that we permanently delete your email or inquiry history.
• Local Data Control: You can wipe all saved foods, comparisons, and custom tray data instantly via your browser settings or on our Saved Items page.

8. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect enhancements in our application or changes in applicable privacy laws. Whenever revisions are made, the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page will be updated.

9. Contact the Privacy Team

If you have any questions, suggestions, or privacy requests concerning this policy, please reach out to us: