New dining app Edible Bytes comes to campus

University of Richmond Dining Services unveiled a new app on March 18 called Edible Bytes; the app was created to better educate students on exactly what’s in the food they’re eating.

Edible Bytes gives students the opportunity to go onto a URL, which is considered an app because students are able to add it to their homepage, see the food options offered at the different food vendors on campus and view the nutritional facts, ingredients and allergens in the foods.

Previously, Dining Services used a website called Nutrition Calculator, which allowed students to view only the nutritional facts of the foods they were eating. But due to the contract for the website ending this past August and a change of food vendors this past July, Dining Services decided to switch to a new program according to Karen Hensely, registered dietician and dining services employee, who headed the switch.

With the purchase of Edible Bytes, the labeled nutrition app the school was available to purchase through the online program, Computrition, Hensley was able to store all of the new ingredient information online. Entering all of this information into the new app was no easy task though.

“I hand entered every single ingredient. We have thousands of food products. We got ingredient lists from PFG [the new food vendor], but others I was in the store room pulling products,” Hensley said.

With the help of a summer intern and some nutrition students, Hensley was able to get the information of every ingredient and accurately enter it into the new app for viewing.

The main difference between the previously used Nutrition Calculator and Edible Bytes is now students are able to see all the ingredients and food allergens in each menu item unlike before when they were only able to view nutritional facts. Since the school got rid of the Nutrition Calculator this past fall semester and just recently released the new app, many freshmen are shocked by some of the nutritional facts, unlike the upperclassmen who were somewhat more aware of them.

“I had no idea there are over 800 calories in a [Tyler’s] Chicken Caesar Wrap,” freshmen Stephanie Poinsatte said. “That’s going to make me think twice next time I order it.”

Another popular online resource students use to get information about food at Richmond is the dining section on the University of Richmond App. But it’s important to note that Edible Bytes is different from this dining section because the dining section only states the foods available for purchase on any given day excluding nutritional facts, ingredients, and allergen information. The ingredient list and food allergens, Hensley believes, is one of the most important parts of the new app.

“There’s this big movement towards food allergies and having students be able to eat easier…This is us being more transparent about what’s in our food,” Hensley said.

After the hours of work that Hensley and her assistants put into the app, she hopes that students actually use it and benefit from the content.

“Basically this is your food, this is the number of calories, this is what’s in it, and these are your food allergens. Use it as you wish,” Hensley said.

Contact news assistant Helaine Ridilla at helaine.ridilla@richmond.edu