Acceptable Use Policy

Acceptable Use Policy

Effective Date: February 10, 2026

About This Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") defines prohibited and restricted uses of the Foodashi ("Foodashi") API, website, and related services (collectively, the "Services"). This AUP is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Service and the API License Agreement.

Violation of this AUP may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account without prior notice or refund.

1. Prohibited Uses — Health & Safety

You must NOT use the Foodashi API as the sole or primary source for any of the following without independent verification by a qualified professional:

  • Allergen guidance: Using API allergen indicators as the definitive allergen source for food products, menus, or food labels without independent verification by a food safety professional.
  • Medical dietary management: Providing dietary plans, meal recommendations, or nutritional guidance for medical conditions (diabetes, celiac disease, phenylketonuria, kidney disease, eating disorders, food allergies, anaphylaxis management, etc.) without oversight from a licensed healthcare provider.
  • Infant or child nutrition: Formulating infant formula, baby food, or child nutrition plans based solely on API data without verification by a paediatric nutritionist or healthcare provider.
  • Clinical nutrition: Using API outputs to inform clinical, hospital, or institutional meal planning without review by a registered dietitian or equivalent licensed professional.
  • Food labeling compliance: Using API data as the sole basis for mandatory food information labels (nutrition facts panels, allergen declarations, ingredient lists) required by law without independent laboratory analysis or professional food science verification.
  • Food safety decisions: Relying on API cooking temperatures, times, or food handling instructions as the sole guide for food safety in commercial food production, catering, or food service operations.

2. Prohibited Uses — Platform Abuse

You must NOT:

  • Scraping & data harvesting: Systematically extract, scrape, or harvest API data to build a competing database, dataset, or service.
  • Bypassing limits: Use multiple accounts, API keys, IP addresses, or other techniques to circumvent rate limits, request quotas, or tier restrictions.
  • Automated abuse: Send excessive, rapid, or automated requests designed to stress-test, overload, or degrade the performance of the Services.
  • Key sharing: Share, sell, or distribute API keys to third parties, or embed keys in publicly accessible client-side code.
  • Security testing: Perform penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, or security assessments against the API or its infrastructure without prior written authorisation from Foodashi.
  • Interference: Attempt to interfere with, disrupt, or compromise the integrity of the Services, its infrastructure, or other users' access.
  • Reverse engineering: Reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code, algorithms, data structures, or architecture of the API or any related software, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law (including EU Directive 2009/24/EC, which permits decompilation solely for interoperability purposes).

3. Prohibited Uses — Content & Legal

You must NOT use the Services to:

  • Generate, distribute, or promote content that is illegal, fraudulent, defamatory, harassing, threatening, or that incites violence or hatred.
  • Misrepresent AI-generated content as human-authored, professionally verified, or editorially curated without having independently verified and approved the content.
  • Violate any applicable law, regulation, or third-party right, including intellectual property rights, privacy rights, and consumer protection laws.
  • Create misleading health claims, false nutritional advertising, or deceptive food marketing materials.
  • Use API data to generate content intended to deceive, manipulate, or defraud consumers about the nature, quality, safety, or nutritional value of food products.
  • Process, transmit, or store personal data of third parties through the API in violation of applicable data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, UK DPA 2018, etc.).

4. High-Risk Application Restrictions

The following use cases are considered high-risk and require additional safeguards. If you intend to use the Foodashi API for any of these purposes, you must implement the specified protective measures:

  • Commercial food service (restaurants, catering): All recipes and allergen information must be reviewed by a qualified chef or food safety professional before use in production. You must implement your own allergen tracking and cross-contamination prevention systems.
  • Published cookbooks or recipe content: All recipes must be tested, verified, and edited by a human before publication. AI-generation must be disclosed as required by applicable law.
  • Dietary and wellness applications: You must include prominent disclaimers that the app is not a substitute for professional medical or dietary advice. Users should be directed to consult healthcare providers for personalised dietary needs.
  • Educational or institutional use: Nutritional data used in educational settings must be presented as estimates only, with appropriate academic disclaimers.

5. AI Transparency Requirements

In accordance with the EU AI Act (Regulation 2024/1689) and emerging AI transparency legislation worldwide, you must:

  • Clearly disclose to your end users that recipe, nutritional, and food data is generated by artificial intelligence.
  • Not remove, obscure, or suppress AI-generation indicators provided in API responses.
  • Not represent AI-generated content as human-authored unless you have independently verified and edited every element of the content and have taken full responsibility for its accuracy.
  • Maintain records sufficient to demonstrate compliance with AI transparency requirements if requested by a regulatory authority.

6. Fair Use & Commercial Use

The Hobby (free) tier is intended for personal projects, testing, and evaluation only. Commercial use of the Hobby tier is prohibited. Commercial use is defined as any use that directly or indirectly generates revenue, including but not limited to: paid applications, ad-supported content, subscription services, or commercial food operations.

Commercial use requires an Indie, Pro, or Enterprise plan. If Foodashi determines that you are using the Hobby tier for commercial purposes, we may suspend your access until you upgrade to an appropriate paid plan.

7. Reporting Violations

If you become aware of any use of the Foodashi API that violates this Acceptable Use Policy, please report it to [email protected].

Reports should include: the nature of the violation, evidence or URLs if available, and the date observed. All reports will be reviewed and investigated. Foodashi may take action at its sole discretion, including suspension or termination of the reported account.

8. Enforcement

Foodashi reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate action against any violation of this AUP, including but not limited to:

  • Issuing a warning and requesting corrective action.
  • Temporarily suspending API access pending investigation.
  • Permanently terminating your account and revoking all API keys.
  • Reporting illegal activity to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
  • Pursuing legal remedies including injunctive relief and damages.

Enforcement actions are taken at Foodashi's sole discretion and do not require prior notice. Accounts terminated for AUP violations are not eligible for refunds.

9. Changes to This Policy

Foodashi may update this Acceptable Use Policy at any time. Material changes will be communicated via email or console notification. Continued use of the Services after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

For questions about this policy, contact [email protected].