These days, the truth about food is little-known. Half of the time, you’re eating something artificial that is only flavored like an apple. When you go shopping, you can’t always have your nutritionist walking around with you to tell you, “Yes on that, and no on that.” Here’s a little app that makes shopping for good, “real” food very easy. Fooducate for the iPhone is an easy-to-use shopping assistant that takes the pressure off.
Basically, the app scans the barcode of a product using the built-in camera. It will show you a picture of the food, and give you an overview of anything that might be a red flag. It also gives each food product a letter grade, and tells you details about the food, like calories per serving, whether or not artificial coloring is used, or how processed the food is. It then gives you suggestions for products that you could substitute for the one you’re scanning that might be better for you.
The scanner is very easy to use. As long as you have good light (and you should in any grocery store), it locks onto the barcode as soon as you get it lined up. I scanned many products, even ones I didn’t intend to buy, just to see if they came up. There were a few that it didn’t recognize, but, looking back, I believe that could have had something to do with the way I scanned it. I am happy to report that it found most of the products I scanned. I am not, however, happy to report that Pepsi Max is also used as engine de-greaser and is capable of eating through your stomach lining.
Overall, if you’re a conscientious shopper and would like an easy way to compare products or quickly find out the dirt on a particular food product, this is definitely the app for you. You can even shake your iPhone to see random products and increase your food knowledge. It’s free, so give it a try.
