This Free App Helps You Identify Foods with Harmful Additives

Are you food conscious? This free app helps you identify foods with dangerous additives. You can even contact manufacturers to ask them to change their product formulas.

It can be hard to eat healthily sometimes, even we are making an active effort, it's tough to know exactly what's in our food. Manufacturers often add harmful substances to make products more "appealing," addictive, or tasty, which can be a serious concern.

Supermarket nutritional labels can be overwhelming, unpronounceable names, mysterious E-numbers, and questionable flavor enhancers make it difficult for health conscious consumers to understand what they're eating.

Thankfully, there's a solution: Yuka. This free app, available on Android and iOS, lets you scan food and cosmetic product barcodes while shopping. It then decodes the labels, offering a clear breakdown of the ingredients.

Yuka evaluates products based on three criteria: nutritional quality, the presence of harmful additives, and whether they're organic. It uses a color coded system (red, orange, green) to simplify the process and encourage healthier choices, ultimately influencing both manufacturers and regulations.

On November 19, Yuka added a new feature allowing users to contact manufacturers directly. This update lets you send a pre written message to brands about controversial additives, urging them to reconsider their ingredient choices. It's a simple, yet powerful, way to use collective influence.

There are two ways to take action. You can send an email to a company's customer service, like: "I scanned your product XXX on Yuka. It contains a risky additive (Calcium Phosphates), which could affect bone health, kidneys, and increase cardiovascular risk. I ask that you remove it to protect consumers."

Alternatively, you can publicly call out the brand on X (formerly Twitter) with a pre-written message: "I scanned your product on Yuka, and it contains a risky additive (E341). I ask that you remove it to protect consumers. #BanThisAdditive."

Julie Chapon, Yuka's co-founder, explains: "Authorities take too long to ban controversial substances, sometimes decades, due to conflicts of interest. In response, consumers can take action." The "name and shame" strategy has already proven effective, as companies are sensitive to their public image.