Yuka, a free App, to scan barcodes on food to see their content. Ouch. Are we digging our grave with a knife and fork?
Last month, I posed a question to myself. Am I living in Narnia, a magical kingdom of people and animals, or in Totnes, Devon, England?
Founders of Yuka, Julie Chapon, Benoit and Martin Francois (two brothers). You can see a Coca-Cola ad in the background in the above photo, probably taken in Time Square, New York. See Yuka information below on Coca-Cola in a section below.
The Yuka App allows users to scan barcodes on food and cosmetic products. Easy to use. You click and point the app to the barcode on the food packaging to access instantly vital information. The app tells users the nutritional content, additives and potential health risks. Ouch.
The food industry has infected multiple food items with non-food substances to influence taste, encourage addiction with sugar, salt, fat, e-numbers, chemicals and more. Daily food with daily toxic substances gradually causes harm to our physical wellbeing. Our welfare depends on plants to nourish us since we come from organic life. We abide vulnerable to abuse from the food industry in its craving for profit and increase in market share.
Incidentally, gossip puts out the word that Totnes is twinned with Narnia, featured in children’s books of C.S. Lewis (1898 -1963). The amusing view can overlook the dedication in the town to local and global issues, alongside the depth of exploration of wellbeing, lifestyle, diversity and community life.
Like others, I am deeply interested in exploring vegan diets and the application of healthy food and herbs to treat health issues. It is a matter of making wise choices with regard to what we eat and drink and use of cosmetics on our skin. We need to learn from each other, as well as from online/books.
On the phone, Nshorna, my daughter, mentioned the Yuka app to me last month. This wallah had never heard of the App. I have now joined the army of users of around 65 million people (as of May 2025) in various countries benefitting from this free to download app.
Yuka has a date base of more than 1.5 million food and cosmetic products.
Application of the Yuka App
The app user views a colour-coded rating, indicating whether the food ranks as excellent, good, poor or bad, based on the content of the food item. I spent an hour or two pointing the App to every food item in the kitchen and refrigerator. The process of scanning barcodes presented a significant learning curve. Just one food item at home received a score of 0% out of 100% while one other food item received a perfect score of 100%. All other items ranged from a few in the poor category to excellent. This wallah increase the daily intake of healthy food due to the app.
Yuka categorises food products according to three criteria: nutritional quality (60%), the presence of additives (30%), and whether the food item is certified organic (10%). The app evaluates the health impact of ingredients, identifying potential allergens or carcinogens.
If a hazardous ingredient appears in a food item, the product score is automatically set below 25 out of 100. If the highest risk is moderate, the score is set below 50 out of 100. The presence of low-risk ingredients, such as fine-tuning, adjusts the score within these ranges.
In a poetic moment, my mother, who loved cakes, once said to me she is digging her grave with a knife and fork.
Consumers of ultraprocessed food during, breakfast, lunch, dinner and for snacks, need to ask themselves, Am I digging my grave with a knife and fork?Am I digging my grave with my hand or with a spoon in my hand?
There is a significant relationship between diet and illness.
Never forget.
Yuka View of Coca-Cola
Yuka awarded zero points to Coca-Cola 0/100. Bad.
Coca-Cola contains two ‘high risk’ additives and one limited risk. Suspected carcinogenic and weakening of the immune system. May contain concerning contaminents that can form during the manufacturing process, including 4-ME. Alsu furan and 5-HMF - both suspected of being carcinogenic and genotoxic.
Coca‑Cola Company sells worldwide each day more than 1.9 billion servings of their ‘bad’ drink in more than 200 countries each day.
Yuka’s warning about the potential dangers of Coca-Cola ought to be on the cover of every bottle or can of their produce. The same warning might well apply to other Cola-Companies. Pepsi-Cola also got a ‘Bad’ conclusion.
Photo above shows Coca-Cola well behind the founders of Yuka. May consumers put food and drink marked with a red flag well behind them.
Armed with my Yuka app, I went to the grocery store to check the contents of food items I wished to purchase. Products range from high to low scores with assorted items going straight back onto the shelf rather than into the hand basket. I would then find a similar item with a healthy score or a food item the app suggested.
To its credit, Yuka remains independent, refusing to accept advertising, sponsorship or any form of payment from brands. The free app covers all the needs. I decided to take out an annual subscription £15.00 as a thank you to the company for providing such a fine service to enable customers to make wise dietary and cosmetic choices.
The paid version provides offline scanning capabilities and an advanced search and filter options for dietary preferences, such as palm oil, gluten and lactose.
Background to the App
Three French citizens, Julie Chapon, Benoit and Martin Francois (two brothers) launched Yuka in France in 2017. The app is available in 12 countries. I read that when the app landed in the UK in 2018, more than 6 million people downloaded it on the first day. The app became available in North America in 2022.
I would strongly recommend the app to anyone looking for a detailed breakdown of the positive and negative nutritional factors. Yuka names the potential health risks of certain substances found in food and also offers a healthier and safer alternative.
Except for Chile, governments around the world continue to bow before the power of the food industry when it comes to harmful food products. Yes, you can find a list of contents, sugar, salt fat and more in tiny print. Dietary choices constitute the single biggest factor in major health issues – cancer, heart disease, mental health issues, allergies, addictions, obesity, high blood pressure, weight issues, anorexia, strokes, heart failure and more.
Chilean government’s law on labels for food.
Here is an online summary of Chile’s implemented law. There are mandatory front-of-package warning labels on foods high in sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and calories. These "stop sign" labels alert consumers to potential health risks associated with excessive consumption of these nutrients.
The labels are part of a broader law that also restricts marketing of unhealthy foods to children and bans their sale in schools.
So far (2025), Chile's food labelling regulations have led to a 23% decrease in the purchase of high-sugar foods and beverages, a 14% decrease in high-sodium products, and an overall 10% reduction in the calorie content of foods and beverages purchased by Chilean households.
With its striking warning labels and comprehensive regulations, Chile has demonstrated a strong commitment with ongoing improvement in the health of its citizens year by year.
Owing to an unhealthy diet, our UK hospitals are crammed with young and old, requiring specialising treatment including surgery, radiation and medication due to what citizens habitually put in their mouth. In hospitals, patients are fed reheated food, prepared days prior with cereals containing sugar, salt, fat and additives for people of all ages, puddings. Unhealthy snacks, crisps and sweets are available in the vending machines installed in hospitals. UK hospitals offer treatment and ‘food’ that sent many patients into the hospital in the first place.
A caring government would exercise its authority in the interest of citizens with legislation to indicate a simple health warning on all food and drink, such as the example in Chile or label on the cover, such as green for healthy, amber for modest concern and red for danger to health.
Check Yuka Out
Yuka makes a modest impact on the food industry. As more and more app users increasingly avoid food products and cosmetics with low ratings, food companies introduce changes to buy their products.
Most App requires significant promotion, including paid advertising and publicity to gain attention. Yuka relied upon word of mouth and positive reviews on social media to generate interest.
If the App is not available in your country food, search to see if there is another available. In cosmetics, some caring cosmetic companies list all the subtle contents in the name of transparency only to find a low rating with Yuka.
There is a free to download for all mobile phones App www.processedapp.com primarily to identify ultra processed that generates the most harm to health through consumption in all meals, snacks and drinks. This app also includes analysis of processed food and unprocessed food. Again, check out what apps are available in your country.
Rmember a simple criterion. If you cannot buy a food item in the list for your kitchen shelf, it is probably an additive and potentially harmful.
Some parents and guardians hand the mobile with the Yuka app to their children to check the food items so the youngsters take an interest in the food for the home and the health benefits or not. Children enjoy such a responsibility and serves as a training when they become adults. Research shows the Z generation (born 1996 and after) use the Yuka app the most of all age groups.
Inform food companies of the red warning
In Totnes, we have a large supermarket. I go there for a few items only using a handbasket. The grocers, health food stores and the Friday outdoor food market provide nearly all the food for home. Our commitments support local farmers, shopkeepers and local transportation of goods.
Yuka now has a ‘Call out the Brand’ button for products with a red label. Users can challenge manufacturers directly when a scanned product flags health concerns. You send an email to the companies to encourage them to rethink their use of harmful additives. You can publish a post on your social media, like Linkedin or Instagram.
The social media post allows you to share your concerns with a wider audience and encourage community engagement advocating for change.