search_foodsLABSCO SUMMARY
USDA nutrition data, with no account and no data download.
The hosted service means a food lookup works as soon as the bridge file is in place; if you would rather not depend on it, the same bridge can be aimed at a copy you run yourself. Two tools, one job: find the food, read its numbers.
What it is
A server over USDA FoodData Central, the US government's food composition database, with two tools: search it, then pull the nutrition detail for one entry.
What you get
- Search across USDA FoodData Central's food records
- Full nutrition detail for a chosen food
- Type-safe responses, defined as Pydantic schemas
- Three ways to run it: the hosted service, a local server, or your own deployment
- One bridge file that can be aimed at whichever of the three you want
Requirements
Python with mcp and httpx, plus mcp_bridge.py — the minimal setup downloads that single file rather than cloning the repository. Pointing it at your own server is a single launch argument.
Setup effort
One command — wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zen-apps/mcp-nutrition-tools/main/src/mcp_bridge.py
USE CASES
01
Finding the right entry among near-identical foods
Search returns the USDA records so you can pick raw over cooked, or branded over generic, before reading any numbers.
02
Reading the full nutrient breakdown for one food
The detail call returns the record's nutrients rather than the three the label happens to show.
03
Costing out the macros in a recipe
Look each ingredient up in turn and pull its nutrition, instead of trusting a recipe site's summary.
04
Checking a nutrition claim against the source
Find the USDA entry behind the claim and read what the government record actually says.
3 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
get_food_nutritioncompare_foodsBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
3 tools named in the project's documentation.
Where it runs
All 4 documented setups run the server on your machine.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zen-apps/mcp-nutrition-tools/main/src/mcp_bridge.pyMCP Clients
Claude Desktop — single file
CLAUDE DESKTOP — SINGLE FILE · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"usda-nutrition": {
"command": "python3",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_DOWNLOADED>/mcp_bridge.py"
]
}
}
}Claude Desktop — full repo
CLAUDE DESKTOP — FULL REPO · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"usda-nutrition": {
"command": "python3",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>/src/mcp_bridge.py"
],
"cwd": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>"
}
}
}Claude Desktop — local server
CLAUDE DESKTOP — LOCAL SERVER · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"usda-nutrition": {
"command": "python3",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>/src/mcp_bridge.py",
"--server-url",
"http://localhost:8080"
],
"cwd": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>"
}
}
}Claude Desktop — custom server
CLAUDE DESKTOP — CUSTOM SERVER · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"usda-nutrition": {
"command": "python3",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>/src/mcp_bridge.py",
"--server-url",
"<YOUR_SERVER_URL>"
],
"cwd": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_NUTRITION_TOOLS>"
}
}
}
