func separate(strin: String) -> FoodItem{

        //initialize a foodItem
        let newItem: FoodItem = FoodItem.init(nam: nameText.text!)

        //array of nutrient strings to look for
        let nutrientNames: [String] = ["Calories", "Fat", "Cholesterol", "Sodium", "Carbohydrate", "Fibre", "Sugars", "Protein"]
        var n = 0                     //counter to work through nutrient names


        //break up translated string by line
        let lineArray = strin.components(separatedBy: "\n")
        for i in 0...lineArray.count - 1
        {
            //break up line by token
            let tokenArray = lineArray[i].components(separatedBy: " ")
            for j in 0...tokenArray.count - 1
            {
                if(n < 8){                                // look for nutrients while not all are yet found
                var scannedString: String
                scannedString = tokenArray[j]
                if ( matchMajority(nutrient: nutrientNames[n], scannedN: scannedString ) )
                {
                    //set nutrient name to
                    let name = nutrientNames[n]
                    //check subsequent tokens on line for a corresponding integer amount
                    let amount = getAmount(tokenArray: tokenArray, j: j)

                    //add nutrient to foodItem
                    let newNutrient: Nutrient = Nutrient.init(nam: name, amoun: amount, servings: 1)
                    _ = newItem.add(nutrient: newNutrient)
                    n += 1                                          // look for next nutrient
                }
                }

            }
        }


        //return foodItem
        return newItem
    }

    func getAmount(tokenArray: [String], j: Int) -> Double{
        var amount = ""
        for k in j+1...tokenArray.count - 1
        {
            //recognize integers with attached unit fix
            amount = tokenArray[k].replacingOccurrences(of: "g", with: "")
            amount = amount.replacingOccurrences(of: "m", with: "")
            let stringAmount = amount
            if(stringAmount == "09"){           // if this is true then Tesseract mistook 0g for "09", since if the amount was 9 there wouldn't be a preceding zero
                return 0
            }
            //check for valid number
            else if Double(amount) != nil
            {
                return Double(amount)!
            }
        }
        return 0
    }



    //finds out if 2 strings have a majority of matching characters
    //returns: Boolean
    func matchMajority(nutrient: String, scannedN: String) -> Bool{
        var numMatched = 0                                  //counter for characters matched
        let majority = (nutrient.characters.count) / 2      //50% of letters in String to be scanned
        var count: Int                                      //the number of letters to scan through

        //find out which word is the smaller one
        if(nutrient.characters.count < scannedN.characters.count){
            count = nutrient.characters.count
        }
        else{
            count = scannedN.characters.count
        }

        var aa = Array(nutrient.uppercased().characters)         //turn Strings into array of chars cuz Swift is annoying
        var ba = Array(scannedN.uppercased().characters)         //also make sure both are upper cased

        if(count > 0){
        //search through each letter
        for index in 0...count - 1{
            var a: Character
            var b: Character

            a = aa[index]
            b = ba[index]

            if (a == b){
                numMatched += 1                            //increment if letters match
            }
        }
        }
        if(numMatched >= majority){
            return true
        }
        else {
            return false
        }
    }