Yuka scans items at the grocery store and scores their nutritional value. But how accurate is it?
Imagine that you’re shopping with a health-conscious friend who always reads ingredient labels—except this friend fits in your pocket, has knowledge of over 5 million products and never gets tired of your questions. Well, you’ll find that “friend” in Yuka, the nutrition app for your phone that scores your grocery items and offers up a list of more nutritious products while you shop.
But can this app really deliver? And is it accurate in its nutritional scores? Here at To Your Health, we’ve had a lot of clients ask those very questions. So, we decided to dive headfirst into the digital nutrition world and test out the app that’s been making waves in grocery stores everywhere.
A nutritional food critic in your pocket.
Yuka is basically a report card for your pantry. The app works by scanning barcodes and delivering a health score from 0-100, considering nutritional quality (60%), additives (30%), and organic certification (10%). Products get color-coded ratings: green for “Excellent” (75-100), yellow for “Good” (50-75), orange for “Poor” (25-50), and red for “Bad” (0-25).
Yuka uses science-backed Nutri-Score methodology, recommends healthier alternatives when products score poorly, and saves your scan history so you can remember which frozen pizzas passed the test. For people trying to avoid ultra-processed foods or navigate dietary restrictions, apps like Yuka can be valuable guides.
What makes Yuka particularly appealing to us is its independence—no sneaky brand partnerships or advertising influencing those scores. So, when your favorite chips get a harsh rating, you can’t blame corporate bias, just those pesky ingredients you can’t pronounce.
Our test results.
We tested Yuka in grocery stores on both the East and West Coasts. Stores including Stop & Shop, Kroger’s (Fred Meyer’s), Safeway, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Overall, we found the app to be helpful in flagging products with poor nutritional value and offering alternative products that scored higher on their Nutri-Score scale. But we also found some shortcomings.
We broke our analysis down into four categories. Here’s what we found:
1. Accuracy in identifying products. The app’s database is expansive, and we found that it could accurately identify nearly every packaged, canned and jarred product we scanned, including generic and in-store brands.
2. Ease of use. We found the app easy to download and connect to our phone’s camera for scanning. The scanning process is quick, with the product identification and nutritional info displaying within seconds. The one drawback we found was that we had to connect to the grocery store’s wi-fi to use the free version of the app (the paid version can scan while offline).
3. The accuracy of the app’s reviews. We found the app to be mostly accurate in its reviews, especially when flagging added sugar, high sodium and chemical additives. However, in our view, protein and fiber seem to take a back seat in the ratings process.
4. The suggested alternative products. We found that the app offers a wide variety of higher-scoring nutritional options. The list of options was long enough that we were often able to find the more nutritious product right there in the same aisle. Depending on the store, we sometimes had to search out the products in the “health food” aisle instead of finding them in the standard products aisle. Additionally, some alternatives are store-brand specific (e.g., Trader Joe’s), so you will only find them in that specific store chain.
Our takeaway: Use Yuka as a guide, not gospel.
In our view, apps like Yuka can be useful tools when used appropriately. They’re particularly valuable for identifying ultra-processed foods and finding healthier packaged alternatives. The key is perspective: use them as guides, not gospel.
Would we recommend using Yuka for all of your health-conscious food choices? No. And we certainly do not see it as an app that replaces the professional advice of doctors, dieticians and nutrition specialists.
So, our advice is: go ahead and try out the free version of the app. Scan the groceries in your pantry and fridge and see what healthier alternatives are out there. We don’t really see a reason for upgrading to Yuka’s premium version ($10-20/year)—though it does offer offline scanning, dietary preference settings and unlimited history.
Lastly, know that the best nutrition app is still your own knowledge combined with common sense. Just remember that the healthiest foods—fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains—often don’t even have barcodes to scan. Fill your cart with these items, and you won’t need a nutrition app at all!
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This post was written exclusively for To Your Health, a national nutrition and wellness coaching firm based in Wallingford, Connecticut. Its founder, Linda Hubbard, is an RN, Nutrition Specialist & Health Coach. She can be reached at linda@toyourhealth360.com.