diff --git a/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py b/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
index cfed5fba69e4d9b7c64528f164ee28b37d76c020..44ba253eb48241451307e25d8cb1f0b11a968444 100644
--- a/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
+++ b/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
@@ -118,6 +118,9 @@ class AbstractCFood(object):
         """ Updates the self.to_be_updated Container, i.e. pushes the changes
         to CaosDB
         """
+
+        if len(self.to_be_updated) == 0:
+            return
         get_ids_for_entities_with_names(self.to_be_updated)
         self.to_be_updated.update()