Calorie tracker to use with usb barcode scanner

April 26, 2011 3:06 PM

I have a usb barcode scanner. I'd like to know if there is some kind of web application (or a program that I can download) whereby I scan the barcode of a particular food item and the nutritional information is retrieved. In particular, I'm interested in this so I can keep track of my calorie intake. I've done some searching and found a few iphone apps. However, I don't have an iphone (or any kind of cell phone), so these don't really work for me.
posted by Proginoskes to health & fitness (4 answers total)

I don't personally use it, but MyFitnessPal has a desktop version, does do barcode scanning and was recommended for calorie tracking.
posted by lhall at 3:15 PM on April 26, 2011

Almost nobody has a barcode scanner for home use, so the likelihood of their being good desktop app for this is pretty low.

Perhaps you could consider getting an iTouch so you can you the iphone apps without having to pay for a data plan?
posted by Kololo at 5:47 PM on April 26, 2011

Early today
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:49 PM on April 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

A USB barcode scanner just reads a barcode, converts it to numbers enters them to the computer (exactly as if it were typed on a keyboard) and then usually does the equivalent of pressing enter. So that being said, it might be easier to search for things where you can just look up a UPC code (the universal product code on pretty much anything) by any method rather than something that inherently includes the scanning process. A quick google search revealed http://www.upcfoodsearch.com/
posted by alhadro at 8:00 PM on April 26, 2011