GoodGuide gets into gastronomy with food ratings

GoodGuide, the service that tells you how environmentally friendly your bottle of shampoo or other household product is, now tracks food items. And not just nutritional content either. The site puts food items up against the same microscope it does for all the other products in its database, showing you how a food item stacks up against others in the same category, and what kind of score the parent company has.

Essentially it's all the things that makes GoodGuide really work, like finding out if your laundry detergent is killing polar bears; something you can now check for your breakfast cereal.

For now, the database of food products is right around 5,000 items, a number which GoodGuide founder Dr. Dara O'Rourke says will be growing by "tens of thousands" in the next few weeks. In the meantime, something that's noticeably missing is junk food. This is by design and meant to encourage people to search for and discover healthy food items. This means that Oreo cookies, Easy Cheese, Hostess Twinkies, and a good number of candy items are nowhere to be found, which I found slightly disappointing. While it's great to know what a good job you're doing by buying locally-grown organic cereal and free-range beef, half of the fun of the site can be discovering which products are an absolute scourge both to your body and the earth.

GoodGuide now tells you how good or bad your favorite foods are. In this case you should stay away from this mac and cheese.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

[JodieAtGoodGuide]

Thanks for the post about GoodGuide, Josh. Junk food lovers need not despair! There will be ratings for your favorite foods out later this month. Keep an eye on us if you hanker for chips and chocolate bars, but want to choose your junk food more wisely.

[Josh.Lowensohn]

I cannot wait. Pork rinds, here I come.

[skecanj]

They're STILL in beta??? When are they going to be up in a full version?