The Master Food List Dialog is used to provide a quick way for you to add new foods to your custom list. Its primary purpose is for importing new food items into your custom My Foods list. But you can also use the Master List to Search for foods meeting certain nutritional criteria.

This list contains the complete (except baby foods) USDA SR13 database for nutritional elements tracked by Eatometer. It also contains menu items from many fast food restaurants.

Select a category using the drop down list. Only the items in the selected category are shown in the list. If you want to view items from several categories simultaneously, use the Search feature. Note: the reason Eatometer doesn't load the entire database into the list is simply performance, most computers would take a long time to do so.

Important Note!
You will notice that in the Master Database there are often several entries for the same food, but a different quantity. For example, there may be an entry for 1 tablespoon and another for 1 cup of the same food. When possible, always use the largest quantity possible to import.

The reason is to avoid mathematical rounding errors, which are more likely to matter on very low values than higher ones. The nutritional values Eatometer stores will be more accurate if you say you ate 1/2 portion of a cup quantity than it will if you say you ate 8 portions of a 1 tablespoon quantity.

Also, the categories in this database do not correlate directly with your Food Item Categories When you import a database item, you will want to set the category to one of your own. Be careful in managing Categories, the program will be much quicker and easier to use if foods are categorized consistently.

Quick Jump
The quick jump bar, located just above the list of foods, is used to help you find what you are looking for quickly. Just click on any letter (except grayed out letters, there are no items starting with those letters) to jump the first item starting with the clicked letter. If you click on a letter you are already on, the next item starting with the letter will be selected.

Sorting
A really useful feature of the Master List dialog is the sorting of items in the list. You can click on any list column header to sort on that column. If you click the same column again, the sort direction is reversed. Use this feature to find the low or high protein/fat/carb foods you need to reach your nutritional goals.

Searching for the Right Foods
Use the Search Master Foods button to locate database food items having a selected word or phrase in their description, or foods that meet a specific nutritional requirement or requirements. Learn more about using the Search feature in the Search topic.