When Dagan Xavier’s father’s illness meant serious changes to his diet, Xavier realized how challenging it could be to meet one’s dietary needs just by reading a food label. In 2008, he co-founded Label Insight to provide product transparency to consumers, helping them better understand what’s in the products they use and consume.

Today, Xavier works with a team of dietitians, chemists, food technologists and other subject matter experts, leading the development and ongoing evolution Label Insight’s database. He also heads up Label Insight’s Open Data Initiative, providing academic researchers with complimentary access to Label Insight’s unique data and tools, in order to impact and improve food and nutrition policy.