by Elisabeth, Tuesday 2pm class
Yuka is a french based startup which keeps consumers informed about the food they eat. Yuka launched a free mobile shopping app that consumers can look at when they go to the supermarket.
So they scan a product barcode with their mobile and get information about the nutritional value of the product they are going to buy. Yuka gives a mark to each product in the database.
Yuka’s founders created an algorithm which includes the Open Food Facts data.
Open Food Facts is a non-profit organisation independant from the industry. It gathers information and data on food products from around the world. Yuka applied Nutriscore ranking criteria to these data.
Nutriscore has been used by French government since 2016. It’s a nutritional labelling with five Colours (from green to red). It evaluates whether the product is healthy or not. These first data represent 60% of the mark. Two other criteria are included in the final mark : the presence of additives (30%) and the fact the product is organic or not (10%).
A nutrition professor said this weighting method lacks of scientific foundation. The knowledge status of the various factors are very different. It is sure that nutrients and health are linked. But concerning the additives, the link is not really established.
There are 400 additives : aromas, emulsifiers, food colorants, food preservatives,flavour enhancers...
Many studies on animals warn us on the potential risks of additives for human health but they are scattered.
Yuka answers that the additives are overused by the food industry and are dispensable for us.
The Yuka algorithm also has limits : butter and sugar are classified as bad nutrients. It’s impossible to find chocolate in the database.
Yuka does not include data on the glycemic index, the origin and the quality of raw material.
Yuka does not take into account micronutrients such as vitamins or antioxidants...
Yuka applies the precautionary principle. They don’t want to wait for sanitary scandals to give information to the consumers.
GLOSSARY
app: a software application for a smartphone/tablet
non-profit organisation : an organisation whose purpose is not to make profits (e.g. P&L)
weighting method : méthode de pondération (look on wikepedia if you want to understand ;-) )
scattered : for example, the wind scatters leaves in the autumn
to overuse : to use something too much
raw material : a material before it is processed, for example coffee grains