Read Mumsnetters’ feedback on the new Change4Life food scanner app

[JustineBMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the MNers who have been testing the Change4Life food scanner app.

Here’s what PHE has to say: “Without realising it we’re all eating too much sugar, saturated fat and salt. The new and improved ‘Food Scanner’ app is here to help you and your family make healthier food and drink choices. Simply scan the barcode of your food and drink to reveal what’s inside.”

Testers, please answer the below questions.

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?
2. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?
3. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?
4. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?
5. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

All testers who give their feedback will be sent a £5 Amazon voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? I wouldn’t say I manage it very well. I do try and give the kids lower in sugar foods but there is so much information on things being high in this and that and the whole thing around fruit that it’s hard to keep up. My little girl loves spaghetti hoops so I go for the low sugar ones, things like that.
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? Not a lot, I feel like it’s such a massive subject. I should definitely make more effort with it.
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? Yes it really has!! A lot of food I wouldn’t even have guessed having sugar in and not only sugar but the amount of salt.
4. What have you learned while testing the app? I have learnt a lot about savoury foods having sugar in which I didn’t really know and also have been using it myself for my dieting, realising alot of these low fat meals make up flavour with a lot of salt etc
5. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you? Yes the amount of sugar. Seeing it as an image with the sugar packs was a great help and a shock

1. I’ve never monitored our sugar intake; I’ve always been more concerned with the overall calorie value than anything else.
2. I am aware that things can have a surprising amount of sugar in but to be honest I’m not really bothered. As long as the overall calories consumed are not too high, and at least four hours are left between eating to let the teeth recover, I’m not too concerned. I think sugar is the latest bogey food, like fat was for a long time before it. Everything in moderation, I say.
3. The app has helped me to understand which foods are high in sugar, yes, but it’s not always relevant to the portion size that is being consumed.
4. I’ve learned that there’s lots of sugar about, but I think I already knew that really.
5. There were lots of foods that aren’t yet listed on the app so it was hard to do comparisons.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? I don't accurately but avoid buying sugar laden drinks.
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? A fair bit and I sometimes look at labels.
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? It's made it easier to monitor.
4. What have you learned while testing the app? That some food really do hide sugars!!
5. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?The main thing that shocked me was the sugar in sweet'n'sour sauce! Guess the sweet part should have given it away!!

1. I try not to give my kids too much sugar generally, I do look at the traffic lights on packets or just common sense
2. I know the obvious ones but am sometimes surprised by hidden sugars like in ketchup etc
3. Yes it's interesting to see (and hear) the sugar cubes drop down the screen when scanning something, it's helped my kids to see that too
4. That some items advertised as healthy are not at all
5. The amount of salt and fat in a teeny tiny laughing cow dunker thing shocked me, I honestly thought that was an okay snack for my toddler

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? I try not to add too much sugar to cooking and I look at the packing and decipher what's in the product.
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? I thought I was pretty good, but the app has proved me wrong. I thought natural sugars were ok but sugar is sugar and the amount in fruit juice is amazing.
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? Yes definitely.
4. What have you learned while testing the app? That seeing the amount of fat in food puts you off! My eldest was using the app and saw the fat dropping off from scanning cheese and said she wouldn't be eating that in excess again. I think that was great, seeing it visually.
5. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you? The amount of hidden fat and salt! I will be continuing to use the is app and let the kids too.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I use the traffic light system on the packaging mostly.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

I thought i did.

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

Yes definitely even though i use the traffic light system as a rule using the app is much easier.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

Theres more sugar than i realised in most things

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

The amount of sugar in everything.

1. I don't monitor it per se, I pretty much know what's in what and the kids don't like sweets, or fizzy drinks.
2. I think I am quite good at knowing what's in the kids' (and mine) food. I have been on diets in the past so I pretty much know the nutritional information of most foods.
3. Not really, I think I was already clued up but it's a very visual way of getting children involved.
4. I don't think I have learnt anything myself. A few of the items we scanned (including our Innocent smoothies) weren't even in the app yet
5. No shocks

Wouldn't say I monitor sugar intake - I just try to not buy too many unhealthy snacks.
Pretty aware of sugar content of foods - I do tend to check labels.
The Change4Life app has reinforced the sugar content of foods to me.
Interesting how much hidden sugar there is. Shocked by the sugar content in soft drinks.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I think it's pretty much common sense - if you eat too many biscuits, sweets, cakes and chocolates, you are eating too much sugar. But I am also aware of hidden sugars in seemingly healthy foods - like yogurts, pasta, rice and fruit juice, so while I eat and drink them, they are in moderation and fruit juices, even those from natural sugars, are diluted.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

I think I generally know about the amount of sugar in foods, but I choose to turn a blind eye due to greed and also for convenience.

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

Yes, it can be quite motivating to see a visual representation of the number of sugar cubes in a product. I have a general idea of the amount of sugar in foods, but the Change4Life app is quite revealing and presents it in a very specific, concrete way.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

That I'd better go on a diet as soon as possible!

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

That a pack of Cadbury Dairy milk has almost the same amount of sugar cubes as Sainsburys Tropical Juice from concentrate! The chocolate has 20.2 sugar cubes per pack, and the juice has 23.3 sugar cubes per pack. You tend to think of juice as something healthy and chocolate as something unhealthy, but if you are trying to lose weight, then it might be a good idea to cut back on juice or at least dilute it severely. I was also shocked that Warburtons medium sliced white bread was recommended by the app as a great snack choice?!! And that there were "no red traffic lights" as each slice contained less than 100 cals. Errmm.... I think that bread is pretty high in carbs and carbs gets converted to glucose in your body? Also, the app does not take into account the nutritional value of foods in the sense that white bread has been stripped of the nutrient dense wheatgerm, so it is not a particularly healthy snack choice. This would also apply to the juice and chocolate example. The app needs to take into account not just sugars, salt, fat and calories. Juice might be high in sugar and calories, but there should be a differentiation between refined sugars and natural fruit sugars - also to factor in the vitamin and antioxidant value of the juice. However, to be fair, I think that the app had to take into account too many different different kinds of nutritional values, it would not work. I guess it just has to be kept simple.

To add- I was also shocked that there were 1.4 sachets of salt in my tropical juice. Just goes to show that just because you can't taste it, it doesn't mean it is not there!

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I have a good idea of what's good and what isn't, and occasionally glance at the front of the packaging gorleston the 'traffic light' indication.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

I think I’m reasonably aware, although there were a few surprises whilst using the app.

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

I think it's helped, it's definetly been useful in getting my older son involved.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

That I've been giving the wrong yoghurts to my 9 month old!

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

The yoghurts! Definetly the yoghurt. It was a shame not everything scanned, but I am sure more products will be added in time.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I’m conscious of the amount of sugar we eat but I don’t actively measure it as much as I should.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

Quite a lot. I gave up sugar entirely for 4 months last year and have been much more aware since then.

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

My son has used it with me and it’s really helped him to understand more.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

My son in particular has learned that even seemingly healthy products (eg fruit smoothies) can have a really high sugar content.

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

Nothing shocked me as such but it did remind me to be more sugar aware.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

When pregnant I had gestational diabetes.. undetected and no signs.. 3 years on as a result I'm borderline so keen to monitor sugar and lose weight..i try and log my foods on fitbit site however with many things they target certain things and over a carbs not sugar whereas this does sugar but not carbs which are easily converted to sugar.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? I thought I was going well with some graze snack choices to increase protein only to discover sugar and salt were bad.
2. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? I have started to work out that my bloat at times is caused by more sugary foods which my body just doesn't agree with and new me think about snacks more.
3. What have you learned while testing the app? To really watch how companies sell healthy items. It's shocking how so many show calories for 100g etc or 100cals (snack figures being promoted) only to find the pot is 150g ..found out on a healthy soya yogurt today..lots of misleading in my opinion and shocked me.
4. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you? As above..salt content shocked.me..i knew about yogurt from diabetic nurse but the app if it worked on more things like lidl snack nuts (tried for a colleague) would help shock you before buying etc.

Thanks for chance to test

1. I don't normally monitor the sugar intake of my family.
2. Not a lot really.
3. Yes definitely, I was surprised with the amount of sugar in some foods which you would consider healthy.
4. That lots of foods you would consider healthy snacks both for myself and my kids have a lot higher sugar, salt etc than you would think. I have found myself scanning foods in the supermarket I would normally buy and changing my mind because of the results.
5. I wouldn't say I was shocked, but I was surprised with the high levels of sugar & salt in some foods which are regarded as healthy. I would definitely continue using the app, I found it helpful when choosing food in the supermarket

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

generally by reading labels and trying to buy the healthier versions of stuff, having some stuff in moderation.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

honestly...not alot

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

oh yes most definately, i honestly thought i would not learn anything new when i signed up for this app.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

that even the things that appear to be good arent always a great choice with regards to sugar content

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

yes! the amount of salt in a packet of noodles! 9 sachets. i couldnt quite believe it.

I was trying to download the app onto my android phone but it said its not working on this device (i have a oneplus phone)! I use to have this app on my samsung though and i loved it! Most of the times i used it on my kids snacks which was very eye opening for me! Especially the fruit juices!

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

By looking at food labels and trying to keep vague track of our intake over the day

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

A fair amount - we cook from scratch a lot and look at the ingredients when buying prepared food

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

Not really - as it can only give the weight per pack/100g it didn't give me any more information than I could already find on the packet. I still have to work out how much per portion.

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

Not much if I'm honest! If there was some way of adding recipes (like in My Fitness Pal) that would be more useful.

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

Not really - see above! I can already see the information given on the food label.

1. We don't usually monitor the families sugar intake past restricting sweets/chocolate a bit. My sugar consumption in particular is very bad.
2. I only really know about foods that obviously have a lot of sugar in them. Seems like there are a lot with 'hidden' sugar.
3. Yes, it's been an eye opener.
4. I've learned there's a lot more sugar in a lot more foods than I previously realised. I'll be cutting down.
5. I've been a bit shocked at so-called 'healthy' and savoury treats having a lot of sugar in them.

The app seemed not to be able to read Aldi barcodes, so I couldn't check any of our weekly shop items. I did find it very useful though when it did work.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I don't buy ready made meals, ready made sauces, soups,kids yogurts and most food which is aimed at kids with lovely characters on pack as they contain most amounts of sugar and ingredients which are not so healthy.I don't buy breakfast cereals,instead my kids enjoy oat porridge with fresh fruits. I pay attention to sugar content and try to choose one with less sugar.However I should admit that trying to take away candy or chocolate which my kids can get from grandparents or at parties so far didn't worked well and now I just try to breath deep and let it go,as unhealthy treats outside are rare and most important is how my kids eat at home.

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

I was forced to learn a lot as my older son got lots of cavities, that was so upsetting because I cooked most food from scratch, didn't give him sweets every day and there was no fizzy drinks in our house.I learned a lot about sugar. There are more than 50 other names of sugar.Barley malt,Beet sugar,Brown sugar,Buttered syrup,Cane juice crystals,Cane sugar,Caramel,Corn syrup,Corn syrup solids,Confectioners sugar,Carob syrup,Caster sugar,Date sugar,Demerara sugar,Dextrose,Diastatic malt,Glucose,Lactose,Maltodextrin,High fructose corn syrup etc. I check ingredients every time I shop, try to buy fresh fruits and berries or low sugar snacks as nuts and rice cakes, dried fruits are healthy but damage is nearly the same as with candies, they are very sweet and sticky.If your child got cavity even healthy sugar is still a sugar.

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

I think this app is great for those who are trying change they grocery buying habits,it is easy to understand that full screen with sugar cubes is not really great option for any family.

1. What have you learned while testing the app? I learned that sugar is everywhere!
2. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?Black and green dark chocolate mini bars contained so much sugar.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I don’t but I know I should be more watchful although we don’t have many obvious high sugar products

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally?

Not a huge amount Before this trial I had started taking more notice in general during it

1. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods?

As I said above it’s put the issue more in my mind and I’m noticing the nutritional information more on products

1. What have you learned while testing the app?

There is sugar in so many low calorie snacks and savoury items too

1. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you?

As above

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this?

I look at the traffic light thing on products but I don't really monitor it closely, mostly just use common sense

1. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? common sense and I'm aware that some things have more sugar in that you would expect like packet sauces etc as it has been in the media a lot
2. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? not really I think I already knew most of it
3. What have you learned while testing the app? not much really I think I was well informed already - I do think it is just another thing to worry about when really just use common sense!
4. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you

some of the recommendations shocked me a bit - not the best choices I didn't think

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? I don't normally but I do try to avoid snacks I assume would be very high sugar or fat contents
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? I thought I knew quite a bit as I am permanently on a diet but apparently I don't
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? Yes for sure, the scanner is a real eye opener - for me & my daughter (who now scans everything)
4. What have you learned while testing the app? That things I believed would have been the healthiest option weren't and vice versa
5. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you? Yes! Muller corners have 6 cubes of sugar in each pot!! These are now relegated to the occasional treat pile.

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? Normally by knowing my self instinctively and from years of dieting.
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? I am quite good and am also aware of the natural sugars and glycaemic index especially after following a lower carb dieting regime (not carb free)
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? No not at all
4. What have you learned while testing the app? I t is very limited and rather vague, many foods where not listed I scanned for fun a large block of Christmas toblerone 360g it gave me the sugar for the whole bar, and said it was unhealthy... no surprises there, then I scanned a large share bag of chickpea snacks, it claimed this 78g bag was a healthy snack and less than 100 cals ...Wrong this would only apply if had a 1/3 of the bag a portion... So it portioned this item and not the large bar of chocolate . I also scanned a nakd date a nut bar which it said was unhealthy, but gave the green light to another more processed snack with more added sugar, I would rather my child had the nakd bar than the other because I think it satisfies their sweet tooth, but the nuts and dates are relatively low GI so are less likely to cause the sugar rush and dip with the desire of snacking that follows
5. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you? How bad it was how it distorts what should be a natural diet , and how many items are not listed

1. If you usually manage or monitor your family’s intake of sugar, how do you do this? i dont but i will now was shocked at the amount of sugar in so called healthy food
2. How much would you say that you know about the sugar content in foods generally? i thought low but realise after the app its quite high
3. Do you think the Change4Life app has helped you to understand the sugar content in your foods? yes definatly never trust the label alone check sugar content

1. What have you learned while testing the app? my diet isnt as good as i though
2. When testing the app, was there anything that shocked you ? just the amount of sugar we consume eeek scary

1. I loosely monitor sugar, but only visually and by taking note of how many obvious sugary foods are consumed ie. Biscuits, chocolate, jam, sweets, and then putting a limit on consuming more that day.

I don't check labels on foods, especially savoury foods, for sugar.

1. I am aware of sugar levels of things that have been heavily promoted in the past, ie amount of sugar in drinks like Cola, and am aware of heavy salt and sugar levels in ready made jar sauces, which I don't buy anyway.

I think the app, for me, is best used to easily highlight food choices for my 4yr old, encouraging him to think of better options.

1. I think the scanner highlighted a few products that were higher content sugar per portion than I expected.

1. I learned some of my more expensive foods are less healthy than the cheaper options, even though marketing would have me believe I am making the better choice.

1. I was surprised at a few of the items I scanned, with them being marketed as organic, or 100% natural. I am aware already that most foods and drinks that are preprepared contain some sugar and salt that most don't realise is there.