Food Database API — v1.1
Six national databases.
One API call.
Country-aware nutrients, ISO 14040 CO₂ footprints, prep yield factors, and unit conversion — across 8,262 canonical ingredients, 2 million branded products, and 5,432 survey dishes.
curl https://api.cooktool.org/v1/ingredients/1001 \
-H "x-api-key: ctk_live_your_key_here" \
-G -d "country=DE"
# → resolves German BLS nutrients + ISO 14040 CO₂ footprint
# for butter, auto-falling back to USDA for any gap8,262
Canonical ingredients
~2M
Branded products
5,432
FNDDS survey dishes
24.2M+
Nutrient data points
6
National nutrition databases
100%
CO₂ footprint coverage
What makes CookTool different
The only food database API with country-aware nutrients, full CO₂ coverage, and prep-accurate nutrition — all in one schema.
Country-aware nutrient resolver
Automatically serves the best verified national data for GB, DE, FR, SE, NO, and DK — falling back to USDA for any missing nutrient. One endpoint, six databases.
100% ISO 14040 CO₂ coverage
GHG Protocol-compliant carbon footprint for every canonical ingredient. Returns source dataset (Poore & Nemecek / AGRIBALYSE), DQR score, and uncertainty range.
Prep & yield factors
Cooking-loss conversion for boiling, frying, baking, steaming, and grilling. Nutrient values auto-scale to edible cooked weight — not misleading raw-weight figures.
Unit conversion engine
Weight ↔ volume ↔ piece with ingredient-specific density overrides and six locale-aware measurement systems. Turn "2 cups flour" into grams server-side.
Canonical cross-linking
Every national source food is linked to the USDA backbone via verified canonical_ingredient_links, enabling unified lookups across all six national databases.
Plain REST, no SDK required
JSON over HTTPS. Filter by category, allergen, GTIN barcode, country, or free-text query. Revocable API keys. Free tier: 1,000 req/day.
How we compare
CookTool is the only database that combines multi-country nutrients, CO₂ footprints, and yield factors in a single API.
| Feature | CookTool | USDA FDC | Edamam | Nutritionix | Open Food Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical ingredient backbone | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Multi-country nutrient sources | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Country-aware resolver API | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| LCA CO₂ footprint | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| ISO 14040 / GHG Protocol | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Prep / yield factors | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Ingredient density | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Allergen flags | ✅ | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ |
| Branded products | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Survey composite foods | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Self-hosted SQL export | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Free API tier | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ⚠️ | ✅ |
✅ Full support · ⚠️ Partial / limited · ❌ Not available
Simple pricing
Start for free. Scale as you grow.
Free
- ✓1,000 requests / day
- ✓5 requests / second
- ✓All endpoints
- ✓1 API key
- ✓Dashboard + usage stats
Pro
- ✓20,000 requests / day
- ✓20 requests / second
- ✓All endpoints
- ✓Up to 2 API keys
- ✓Dashboard + usage stats
- ✓Priority support
Enterprise
- ✓20,000 requests / day
- ✓50 requests / second
- ✓All endpoints
- ✓Up to 5 API keys
- ✓Dashboard + usage stats
- ✓Priority support