node-red-contrib-open-food-facts 0.2.0

A Node-RED node that provides easy integration with the Open Food Facts API. Search for products, retrieve product information, add products, and manage product images.

npm install node-red-contrib-open-food-facts

Node-RED Open Food Facts

A Node-RED integration for the Open Food Facts API, providing easy access to food product information, nutrition facts, and ingredient details from the world's largest open food database.

Features

• Product Lookup: Retrieve detailed product information by barcode
• Product Search: Search for products using various criteria (name, brand, category, etc.)
• Taxonomy Access: Access categorized data for additives, allergens, brands, and more
• Product Management: Add new products and upload product photos (requires authentication)
• Insights Access: Get random insights from Robotoff for product improvement
• Asynchronous Operations: All API calls are non-blocking
• Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling with custom error types
• Type Safety: Built with modern JavaScript features

Installation

Install using the Node-RED palette manager or via npm:

npm install node-red-contrib-open-food-facts

Nodes

Basic Nodes

OpenFoodFacts Get Product

Retrieve product information by barcode.

Inputs:

• msg.payload: Barcode string (if not configured in node)

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Product object with details like name, brand, ingredients, nutrition facts

OpenFoodFacts Search Products

Search for products using various filters.

Inputs:

• msg.payload: Search parameters object

Example search parameters:

{
  "search_terms": "chocolate",
  "brands": "Nestle",
  "categories": "snacks",
  "page": 1,
  "pageSize": 20
}

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Search results including count, page information, and products array

OpenFoodFacts Get Taxonomy

Access categorized data (additives, allergens, brands, etc.).

Inputs:

• msg.payload: Taxonomy type (e.g., "additives", "allergens", "brands")

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Taxonomy data object

Extended Nodes

OpenFoodFacts Add Product

Add a new product to the OpenFoodFacts database (requires authentication).

Configuration:

• Username and password credentials required

Inputs:

• msg.payload: Product data object with code, brands (optional), labels (optional)

Outputs:

• msg.payload: API response

OpenFoodFacts Upload Photo

Upload a photo for a product (requires authentication).

Configuration:

• Username and password credentials required

Inputs:

• msg.payload: Object containing:
  • barcode: Product barcode
  • image: Image file
  • type: Object with field (front/ingredients/nutrition) and languageCode

Outputs:

• msg.payload: API response

OpenFoodFacts Get Additives

Retrieve the additives taxonomy.

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Additives taxonomy data

OpenFoodFacts Get Allergens

Retrieve the allergens taxonomy.

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Allergens taxonomy data

OpenFoodFacts Get Brands

Retrieve the brands taxonomy.

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Brands taxonomy data

OpenFoodFacts Get Random Insight

Get random insights from OpenFoodFacts Robotoff.

Configuration:

• count: Number of insights to retrieve (default: 1)
• lang: Language code for filtering (optional)

Outputs:

• msg.payload: Random insights from Robotoff

Example Flows

Basic Product Lookup

[
    {
        "id": "inject-barcode",
        "type": "inject",
        "payload": "3017620422003",
        "payloadType": "str",
        "topic": "",
        "name": "Inject Barcode",
        "wires": [["get-product"]]
    },
    {
        "id": "get-product",
        "type": "openfoodfacts-get-product",
        "name": "",
        "wires": [["debug"]]
    },
    {
        "id": "debug",
        "type": "debug",
        "name": "",
        "active": true,
        "wires": []
    }
]

Search by Category

[
    {
        "id": "search-inject",
        "type": "inject",
        "payload": "{\"categories\": \"beverages\", \"page\": 1}",
        "payloadType": "json",
        "topic": "",
        "name": "Search Beverages",
        "wires": [["search-products"]]
    },
    {
        "id": "search-products",
        "type": "openfoodfacts-search-products",
        "name": "",
        "wires": [["debug"]]
    },
    {
        "id": "debug",
        "type": "debug",
        "name": "",
        "active": true,
        "wires": []
    }
]

API Reference

Product Object Structure

{
  "code": "3017620422003",
  "product_name": "Nutella",
  "brands": "Ferrero",
  "categories": "Spreads, Sweet spreads, Chocolate spreads",
  "ingredients_text": "Sugar, Palm oil, Hazelnuts...",
  "nutriments": {
    "energy_100g": 2252,
    "fat_100g": 30.9,
    "carbohydrates_100g": 57.5,
    "proteins_100g": 6.3
  },
  // ... more fields
}

Search Parameters

Error Handling

The nodes emit errors that can be caught using a catch node. Common errors include:

• Product not found
• Invalid barcode format
• Network connectivity issues
• API rate limiting

Testing

Run the test suite:

npm test

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Credits

This node uses the Open Food Facts API. Open Food Facts is a collaborative project with contributors from around the world.

Support

• For issues and feature requests, please use the GitHub issue tracker
• For questions about the Open Food Facts API, visit their documentation

Acknowledgments

• Open Food Facts team for maintaining the amazing food products database
• Node-RED community for the excellent IoT platform