A few weeks ago, my wife told me about an app called Yuka. What it does is scan the barcodes of food products and cosmetics and then give you a health rating out of 100. You can also drill deeper if you'd like to better understand why a particular food item is healthy — or not healthy.
Since then, a few things have happened:
I've told as many people as possible about it. (I have my parents scanning at the grocery store.)
Grocery shopping takes a lot longer. (I have a colleague who has been mistaken for a store employee while using the app.)
We've made meaningful changes to the food we buy.
And it's not like we weren't trying to shop healthy before.
It works a lot like France's Nutri-Score, except you have to do a bit more work. As soon as I see a low score, I no longer want the product and I move on to an alternative or I eschew it altogether. I can only imagine the positive impact that an app like this will have on our health and on the broader food landscape as our individual decisions compound over time.
It also feels like a perfect use case for augmented reality and spatial computing. Right now, I have to juggle my phone in one hand and a basket in the other. But imagine a world where I can just pick up a package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and my glasses will automatically tell me they're a 0/100. That world is coming.
If you care about the food you put into your body, I would highly recommend downloading Yuka on your phone. Ignorance is bliss until you're no longer ignorant.
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Brandon Donnelly
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