Health and food-safety disclaimer

1. Long form

*Publish at [SITE URL]/health-disclaimer, link it from the app's About screen, and mirror it as Section 4 of the Terms of Service.*

HomeBasket is an organiser, not an adviser

HomeBasket helps you keep track of the food in your home. Everything it shows you — product scores, nutrition figures, ingredient warnings, freshness estimates, shopping suggestions, recipes, and meal plans — is general information only.

It is not medical, health, nutritional, dietary or food-safety advice, and it is not a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. Using HomeBasket creates no professional relationship. Never disregard or delay professional advice because of anything you read here.

Ingredient information: we warn, we never certify

HomeBasket may tell you a product appears to contain a food somebody in your household asked it to avoid. HomeBasket does not know why the person avoids that food and does not classify the preference as an allergy. The warning may come from Open Food Facts or USDA FoodData Central, receipt text, product names, and information a household member entered.

All of those sources are incomplete and are sometimes wrong. Manufacturers reformulate without notice. Databases lag. A receipt line may be matched to the wrong product. “May contain” and shared-equipment statements are voluntary, and cross-contact risk may be absent.

So:

• HomeBasket never tells you a food is safe. There is no "safe" badge and no all-clear, deliberately.
• Silence is not an all-clear. No warning frequently means only that we had no ingredient data for that product.
• Read the label on the actual package, every time, before eating or serving. The package in your hand is authoritative. This app is not.
• Never use HomeBasket to decide whether a food is safe for someone with a food allergy or intolerance.

Health scores

A score is a transparent calculation over published nutrition data. It describes a product in general terms. It does not tell you whether a food is appropriate for you, your condition, your medication or your goals. Where we lack the data to calculate a score, we say so instead of estimating one.

Goals, calorie targets, and nutrition suggestions

Selecting a goal such as heart health, blood sugar, or weight loss changes how general suggestions are ranked. It is not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or personalized clinical recommendation. A calorie target is a number selected by a household member, not a prescription. Observations about recent purchases do not measure what any person ate, absorbed, or needs.

Nutrition figures

Figures come from third-party databases or from a package label, and may be inaccurate or out of date. Figures for prepared recipes are estimates calculated from matched ingredients, not laboratory analysis, and they change with your ingredients, brands and portions.

Freshness and expiry estimates

Countdowns are estimates based on general storage guidance and the date you bought something. They cannot know how an item was transported, how warm it became, whether a package was opened, or how it was handled.

They are not a statement that food is safe to eat. Except for infant formula, package dates usually concern quality rather than safety. Food can carry harmful pathogens without looking, smelling, or tasting spoiled. Follow the package's storage and handling instructions and authoritative time-and-temperature guidance. When safety is uncertain, discard the food. Refrigerate promptly, prevent cross-contamination, and use a food thermometer. Authoritative guidance is at FoodSafety.gov and the USDA Food Product Dating guide.

Recipes and meal plans

Recipes may be generated or adapted by automated systems, or imported from a link you supplied. Automated systems make mistakes, including confident ones. Quantities, timings, techniques and ingredient information may be wrong. Check cooking temperatures against an authoritative source and use your judgement.

When to get professional advice

Talk to a physician or registered dietitian about allergies, intolerances, chronic conditions, medication interactions, pregnancy, nursing, feeding infants or young children, or feeding anyone who is immunocompromised or elderly.

In an emergency

If you think you or someone else is having an allergic reaction or any medical emergency, stop using the app and call your local emergency number immediately. Do not wait, and do not look anything up here first.

2. In-app strings

On any ingredient warning (beneath the warning, always visible, not behind a tap):

Where no warning is shown but foods to avoid are recorded (this is the one that matters most — it is the state a plaintiff would point at):

On the health score card:

On a freshness countdown or the "expiring soon" banner:

On a recipe or automated meal plan:

In onboarding, on the screen that first collects dietary preferences, shown before the user can proceed:

On the About screen:

3. Where each string goes