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

Second set of questions .....

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Not really. I know which foods are healthier but I don’t always choose those .

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was fast clever and easy to understand.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes. My DD loved it.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

It hasn’t happened yet. But I’m sure it will.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

More food items in the database please would be perfect

Thanks again.

Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

In the supermarket, yes.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

The little cartoons, the fun facts, and it was useful that it made suggestions about whether to eat it or not.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

For my kids, yes. For me, no, unless it started helping me record what I had eaten so I could keep better record of my sugar intake.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

Did not buy the posh fizzy orange juice I was lusting after because it’s sugar load was absolutely shocking.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

It needs to have the ability to record daily consumption, perhaps set yourself goals etc. Maybe family competition - who has best sugar intake that day.

Updated questions:

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices? It will as I continue to use it.
2. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app? Visually seeing the amount of fat and sugar in the products we eat.
3. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app? Yes definitely.
4. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app? It stopped me eating the goats cheese in the fridge and using cheeder instead on my pizza!
5. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app? More products included would be great. Maybe a way to count up everything scanned in a day to see what has been eaten.

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices

• not as such, no, as I only used it on foods I had already purchased. It did make us more aware of what was in our foods though.

?

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was fun to use, the kids were fascinated with the barcode scanner

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Probably not unfortunately. It’s a bit of a gimmicky thing and it’s easy enough to tell if something has sugar in or not, by reading the labels

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

I didn’t, we generally eat homemade foods anyway, so it didn’t really affect our purchases.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Nothing really, just more products added.

Updated questions:

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices? I believe so - it makes me think more
2. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app? How easy it is to use
3. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app? Yes
4. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app? I won't be buying Aldi yogurts again - shocking amount of sugar!
5. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app? More products really

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes - some foods I thought were relatively healthy proved not to be!!

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was so easy, colourful & simple to use.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes, it's a very useful tool.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

I had been eating cereal bars which I thought were relatively healthy but realised they were full of sugar! I've since switched to alternative snacks such as fruit & crackers.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Could you add the 'goodness' that is in healthy foods such as vitamins & minerals in fruit & veg as a reminder / indicator of how good they actually are...

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

It has certainly made me think a lot more about some of the choices we make and has led me to changing some products I eat regularly to healthier options

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

Dd found it fun and has asked me to load it into her iPad for her to scan foods in her snack box! We liked that it was very visual and easy to see how many sugar cubes. It also scanned quickly and generally found most food items in our cupboards.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

I think I will, yes.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

As I do most of my food shopping online I haven’t really actively changed what I’ve bought from using in the shop, I’ve more been seeing what we regularly buy and making changes from that. I am now making my own nut based snack balls rather than buying fruit and nut bars which have a much higher fruit content than the ones I can make so I am reducing the sugar that way. I’m also making homemade soup rather than buying soup (which I have every day for dinner) as I was shocked how much sugar was in them.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

We didn’t get it to scan every food we had so that could be developed but generally it was pretty good at picking up different foods. Dh tested it with mince pies thinking it wouldn’t find them but it did!

I’d say to have the option to see how much sugar per portion rather than just per pack would be really useful, and saying how much of the pack is a portion (as sometimes the Pack portion is very tiny compared to how much people actually eat!)

I think the food scanning app defiantly helped me to make healthier choices for me and my family. It made me mentally see how much sugar was in each product which h put me off buying it if very high in sugar. My children loved using the app and made shopping more fun scanning the snacks they wanted and if too much sugar we choose an alternative. So great encouragement for them to make the right choices. We will defiantly carry on using the app its great when you have a family and want to make the right choices for them. We changed our purchases a few times but one in particular was cereal instead of our coco pops or honey cheerios we choose weetabix and sultana bran. I was shocked at how much sugar and salt was in cereals. I think that you could improve the app by offering alternatives that are low in sugar compared to the product you scan.

1. No, it didn't help me to make healthier food and drink choices.

1. We loved scanning items in the supermarket.

1. I don't think I'll continue to use the food scanner app.

1. I have never changed my purchase choice as a result of the app.

1. I can't think of any way to improve it.

Thanks for giving us the chance to test it!

1. Yes it did
2. The visual aspect of seeing how much sugar is in things and my children liked scanning food items

3.Yes 4.None as of yet as had already done a big shop but will encourage us to make healthier choices when shopping in the future

1. Suggest healthy alternatives

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Not necessarily shaped what I had chosen to eat at that time but made me think about what I could/should have later to keep in balance etc

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was easy to use, older kids enjoyed it too, treating it like a game to find "green food" bright and colourful too

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes I think so but it would need to adapt into more of tracker and record total otherwise other current diet management/ health management/ tracking apps do this and more. Either that or "connect" with other apps/ fitness trackers. Potentially could set family profiles so can see true percentages of allowances etc

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

Not really used for when purchasing (online shopping mostly) and labels tend to be pretty clear with their labelling now for quick comparison

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

would need to adapt into more of a tracker and record total otherwise alternative current diet management/ health management/ tracking apps do this and more. Either that or "connect" with other apps/ fitness trackers. Potentially could set family profiles so can see true percentages of allowances etc Also would like to see things that don't have barcodes listed- fruit and vegetables- bananas, avocados etc

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Not at this stage but I will continue to use it and I think it will do in the future.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It's great to look at, nice and bright, and easy to scan

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes definitely

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

It hasn't happened yet but I'm sure it will do!

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Some of the nutritional information wasn't available and it would be useful to be able to delete previous scans

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

It didn't stop me using what we already have in the cupboards, but it's made me realise not all the things I am buying are as healthy as I thought.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It's bright and interactive for all the family to use, so my kids could get involved easily.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes I will as I have assumed that snacks sold as kids snacks aren't always as low in sugar as I thought.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

I haven't yet.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Suggesting alternatives when you scan a high sugar/salt item, also having a bigger library of barcodes so more is recognised

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes, I used it to compare various options and went with the lower sugar/salt options where possible.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

The visuals, very easy to see exactly what was in the product.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes, I would have thought so.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

Not at the time, but I will stop buying a certain sauce that I had convinced myself was a healthier option - it wasn't and I was shocked.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

The ability to use it for online shopping somehow. More products to be included.

These are answers to the second set of questions.

1. Using the app made me reconsider purchasing a few items that I had previously thought if us as ‘healthy’.

1. It’s a great app for kids - very engaging which makes it enjoyable for family use.

1. I think I will use it occasionally alongside my other health and fitness apps.

1. I changed my mind when purchasing a tin of baked beans as I was shocked by the sugar content in a product I had considered to be healthy. I then purchased the beans from a different brand range that offered a low salt and sugar option.

1. Push notifications that offer handy tips and advice would be a fun addition.

1. Yes, it made it easier to make healthier choices.
2. The kids enjoyed using the scanner as it was so easy to use.
3. I might not use it all the time, but I will use it when comparing new products.
4. I didn’t change my purchase choice, but I limited the portion size.
5. Rewards for making healthy choices - games etc.

UPDATED QUESTIONS:

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes, highlighting the sugar and fat content certainly made me think again about the snack.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was very quick and easy to use, my daughter lived scanning the barcodes.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

For a while yes.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

I chose healthier yogurts with less sugar after using the scanner.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Can't think of anything.

Thanks again.

Second set of questions

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

That it worked on a huge range of food

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Occasionally, but not all the time.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

No

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

None

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices? Yes, definitely with regards to breakfast cereals. It helped us be more mindful of what we were eating and reevaluate some of the things we were eating as staples

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app? It was quick and easy to use. And fun for kids to scan things

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app? Probably when buying processed foods on occasion

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app? I didn't change any purchase choices but did eat less of some foods we already had in the house

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app? I think it would be useful to consider things like caffeine and sweeteners in products. My husband drinks a lot of Pepsi max, which is hardly the healthiest of things to be drinking, but this app rated it as a "great choice" when I scanned it. Yes it is low in sugar and fat, but it's crammed with sweeteners and caffeine so I think it would be useful to alert people to these things as well.

1. Yes, I used it particularly to choose breakfast cereal for the kids to make sure I picked the healthiest option.
2. My kids enjoyed using the food scanner, they thought it was fun scanning things. It made rpthem feel more in control of their food choices.
3. Yes I would continue to use this as it helps me make wise snack choices. I like that it remembers your previous scans
4. I changed my purchase choice regarding breakfast bars. I was going to buy nomadic yogurt & oat crunchy clusters, but changed my mind due to the sugar content.
5. I think that the app is good as it currently is, however, it could maybe in the future include some of the standard items in supermarket lunch deals as I found it hard to get information on these when picking my lunch.

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes and no. In most cases it just made more aware of how healthy/unhealthy our choice already was.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was interesting seeing how it rated our favourite snacks.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Possibly

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

We did swap to a lower sugar cereal bar .

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

1. No, I chose to eat the same but I was shocked by some items
2. Interating to see what each option was
3. Not likely but may do on occasion
4. No
5. Show the information per quantity you are likely to consume, I.e. Rather than a whole loaf of bread two slices worth of sugar etc

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

No

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

Not a huge amount. It was glitchy in supermarkets as phone internet can be intermittent in larger shops.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

No

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

No. I didn’t. I generally make healthy choices.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Making it not reliant on internet signal, but rather have broad barcodes stored within the app.

1. Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices? I do most of my food shopping online so I had already bought most of the things I scanned, it has made me think more about the snacks my kids are eating though
2. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app? I thought it was interesting to see and hear the sugar cubes etc instead of it just saying how much sugar was in something, I did make me think more about what we eat regularly
3. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app? Yes
4. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app? Not yet, I do most food shops online but will possibly in the future
5. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app? I tried to scan a few baby food items and they haven't been added to the app yet so more things like that would be good

1. . Do you think the Food Scanner app helped you to make healthier food and drink choices?

Yes it did, although I thought I am buying healthy food, I 've found out that some of the products are surprisingly unhealthy.

1. What did you and your family enjoy about using the Food Scanner app?

It was interesting to find out if our food is healthy.

1. Do you think that you will continue to use the Food Scanner app?

Yes, it will help me to make healthier choices whenever I will be buying new products.

1. Can you tell us about a time - if any - you changed your purchase choice as a result of the app?

I was very surprised when I found out that kids yoghurt which is my daughter's favourite one is full of sugar. It was shocking.

1. We’d love to hear about any features you think could further improve the Food Scanner app?

Keep adding more products.