Get the appFree app for iPhone and Android
See what's inside packaged food with one scan.
Scan a barcode. Get an A–F grade and a plain list of the additives and allergens in it.
Free to download. Optional paid plans. No ads.
What a scan looks like
Scan result in the app: MaraNatha Organic Almond Butter. It gets an A, and a tree nut alert for someone who set that allergen.
How it works
Scan the barcode
Point your phone camera at the barcode. Or type the number in.
Read the grade
See an A–F grade and the reasons for it, in plain words.
Decide for yourself
Buy it, skip it, or save it to your history. It's your call.
What it checks
Additives
Finds the additives in the ingredient list and says what each one is. It checks for 250+ additives.
Synthetic food dyes
Points out dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5. In the European Union, foods with these dyes must carry a warning label.1
Allergens
Warns you when a product has an allergen you picked in your profile.
Recalls
Shows current food recall notices from the FDA.2
How the grade works
- Every product starts at 100 points.
- It loses points for high sugar, salt or saturated fat, and for each additive.
- It gains points for fiber and protein.
- Product facts come from Open Food Facts, a free public food database.3
Who made this
DeJuan Tartt & Ahnjonee Turner
Co-founders, NutraDetective
In 2009, a food documentary changed how we shop. We spent the next ten years reading labels and looking up what the words meant.
Most people don't have ten years. So we built an app that does the looking up for you, right in the store aisle.
NutraDetective is a small, independent app. It has no ads and does not sell your data. Questions come straight to us at contact@nutradetective.com.
Try it on your next grocery trip.
Free to download. Paid plans are optional. The app shows the price before you pay, and you can cancel any time in your App Store or Google Play settings.
Food information, not medical advice. Talk with your doctor or a dietitian about your own health.
Sources
- EU Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V: warning label for six food colours.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, food recall data.
- Open Food Facts, openfoodfacts.org.