realfood.gov
Ranked 3 of 4 government websites by recommenders
Government dietary guidelines site praised for its simple food focus, clean layout and clear information, though critics find it hard to use and slow.
Government dietary guidelines site praised for its simple food focus, clean layout and clear information, though critics find it hard to use and slow.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 46%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clean layout and design
“I was surprised how impressed I was by the website. The layout, design, focus on simple foods.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “Terrible website in both usability and conveying information but it looks nice. Info is good”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” Clear, simple food information
“I was surprised how impressed I was by the website. The layout, design, focus on simple foods.”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “Terrible website in both usability and conveying information but it looks nice. Info is good”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poor usability on desktop and mobile
“Terrible website in both usability and conveying information but it looks nice. Info is good”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “holy moly that website is awful on desktop with a mouse”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “one of the worst mobile sites I’ve used in a while”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” - Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid”
Scroll jacking and jarring animations
“Way too much scroll jacking for me to be honest, probably the worst site I've seen of their team”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “The performance is awful and all of the animations are extremely jarring.”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” Slow performance and broken pages
“The performance is awful and all of the animations are extremely jarring.”
Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid” “so slow and broken it was”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Eat Real Food – Introducing the New Pyramid”
Other government websites people recommend
The three most recommended other government websites, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOV.UK | 29 | 4 | 88% | 11 | — | Approved |
| America.gov | 19 | 26 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
| realfood.govThis page | 6 | 7 | 46% | 2 | — | — |
| USA.gov | 5 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“At least realfood.gov was decent”
“This is straight up the best US government campaign website I’ve seen.”
“I was surprised how impressed I was by the website. The layout, design, focus on simple foods.”
“one of the worst mobile sites I’ve used in a while”
“the site is not compliant”
“so slow and broken it was”
“Unreadable clunky website.”
“The performance is awful and all of the animations are extremely jarring.”
“Way too much scroll jacking for me to be honest, probably the worst site I've seen of their team”
“Terrible website in both usability and conveying information but it looks nice. Info is good”
“holy moly that website is awful on desktop with a mouse”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.