Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

We collect information that you voluntarily provide to us, as well as information that is automatically collected when you use our service.

Personal Information

• Account information: Name, email address, and password when you create an account.
• Payment information: Billing details processed securely through Stripe. We do not store your full credit card number on our servers.
• Dietary preferences: Any dietary goals, restrictions, or preferences you provide to personalize your experience.
• User-generated content: Recipes you save, shopping lists you create, food analyses you perform, reviews you submit, and messages sent through our community chat features (The Chum).
• Chat data: Conversations with AI assistants (Manny, Gator) and messages posted in community chat rooms are processed to provide the service. Private conversations with Gator are visible only to you.

Automatically Collected Information

• Device information: Browser type, operating system, and device identifiers.
• Usage data: Pages visited, features used, and time spent on the service.
• Log data: IP address, access times, and referring URLs.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide, operate, and maintain our services.
• To personalize meal suggestions, food analysis, and nutritional recommendations based on your dietary preferences.
• To process your subscription payments securely via Stripe.
• To send you account-related notifications (e.g., subscription confirmations, billing receipts, security alerts).
• To improve, develop, and optimize our platform and user experience.
• To respond to your inquiries and provide customer support.
• To detect, prevent, and address fraud, abuse, or technical issues.

3. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to maintain your session, remember your preferences, and understand how you interact with our service. These include:

• Essential cookies: Required for authentication and session management. These cannot be disabled.
• Functional cookies: Used to remember your preferences, such as dietary settings and dark mode.
• Analytics cookies: Help us understand usage patterns and improve the service.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may prevent you from using certain features of the service.

Local Storage & Mobile Device Storage

We use on-device storage to save non-sensitive usage data, including:

• Free trial usage counts: The number of free feature uses you have consumed (e.g., food analyses, recipe searches, additive lookups). This data is stored entirely on your device and is not transmitted to our servers.
• User preferences: Display settings and cached data to improve performance.

Web browsers use the standard browser localStorage API for this data. The Rock the New Food Pyramid mobile app uses the device's native secure storage (iOS Keychain / Android Keystore) rather than browser localStorage. A unique, anonymous Device ID is generated and stored securely on your device to enforce fair use of the free trial. This ID does not contain any personally identifiable information.

4. Third-Party Services

We integrate with trusted third-party services to provide our platform. These services have their own privacy policies:

• Stripe: Processes subscription payments. Stripe handles your payment card details directly and is PCI-DSS compliant.
• Open Food Facts: Provides product and ingredient data for food analysis. No personal data is shared with Open Food Facts.
• USDA & NIH: Nutritional data sources used for educational content. No personal data is shared.
• Groq: Provides AI language model services that power our food analysis, additive lookup, and meal suggestion features. Food queries and ingredient data may be sent to Groq for processing. No personally identifiable information is intentionally shared with Groq.
• ChumChat (Tetra): Powers our integrated chat system (Manny, The Chum, and Gator). Your display name, email, and chat messages are shared with the ChumChat platform to provide the chat service. ChumChat processes this data in accordance with their own privacy practices.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services): Hosts our application infrastructure. Data is stored securely in accordance with AWS security practices.

5. Data Sharing & Disclosure

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties. We may share your information only in the following circumstances:

• Service providers: With trusted vendors who assist us in operating the platform (e.g., payment processing, hosting), under strict confidentiality agreements.
• Legal obligations: If required by law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request.
• Safety: To protect the rights, property, or safety of Rock the New Food Pyramid, our users, or the public.
• Business transfers: In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case your information may be transferred to the successor entity.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest.
• Secure password hashing using bcrypt.
• Regular security assessments and monitoring.
• Limited employee access to personal data on a need-to-know basis.

While we strive to protect your information, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with our services. If you delete your account, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., billing records, fraud prevention).

8. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion: Request that we delete your personal data, subject to legal obligations.
• Portability: Request a machine-readable copy of your data.
• Opt-out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time using the link provided in each email.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at support@rockthenewfoodpyramid.com.

9. Children's Privacy

Our service is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will promptly delete such data.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated policy on this page with a revised "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the service after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us at: