diff --git a/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py b/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
index 061989f1a182309b7291cea11c1adfe75e08b573..341594cf2efea5dd9ebdf0789fa292062053e4d6 100644
--- a/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
+++ b/src/caosadvancedtools/cfood.py
@@ -503,10 +503,11 @@ def assure_parents_are(entity, parents, to_be_updated=None,
         if isinstance(e, db.Entity):
             if e.name is None:
                 raise Exception("Entity should have name")
-            parents[i] = e.name
+        else:
+            parents[i] = db.Entity(name=e)
 
     if ([p.name.lower() for p in entity.get_parents()]
-            == [p.lower() for p in parents]):
+            == [p.name.lower() for p in parents]):
 
         logger.debug("entity {} has parents {}".format(entity.id, parents))