Who is behind Yuka?
Yuka is a young and dynamic team of 11 motivated people who want to make a project promising.
Yuka collaborates with a nutritionist
Yuka also works with a nutritionist, who supports us on the nutrition program and the redaction of articles, the nutritionist Anthony Berthou creator of the blog Health and nutrition. Teacher to health or sport professionals, he offers his experience at the service of Yuka.
What the media think
The Yuka mobile application, which has more than 6 million downloads, has been available on the market for a few spring.
Yuka is one of the “Health and Fitness” applications that allow the user to scan the barcodes of products (food and Carebidiol cosmetics) to understand their composition and therefore their potential health impact.
Under favorable conditions
Prior to our analysis, a quick survey, without any scientific affirmation, on social networks has shown us that between 22 and 38% of Internet users declare that they are using one or more applications of this type.
The public interest is therefore real. An audience that loses its orientation behind its cart and in front of its plate and is looking for tools of transparency and traceability.
The reasons for this concern are numerous: unhealthy food phobia exacerbated by food scandals (crazy cow disease, chicken dioxin, horse meat lasagna, fipronil eggs, deadly sprouted seeds, infected infantile milk), worries about the global warming, which is often blamed on intensive farming and the food industry, the temptation of organic food, of which The offer increases, and the fear of diseases (heart, cancer, dementia).
Obviously, the “Health” logo race is in full swing. This is why applications like Yuka are very timely.
Between inconsistencies and presumptions
The Yucca database combines different sources, most of which are scientifically founded and others less. It includes Open Food Facts (OFF), Nutri-Score, EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), ANSES (National Agency for Food Safety, the Environment and Work), the CIRC (International Center for Research on Cancer ), labels for biological production "AB" (France) and "Eurofeuille" (Europe), but also "independent" studies and various works.
Application assessment algorithm is based on 60% of the final assessment of the nutritional composition (Nutri-Score), additives (30% of evaluation) and the biological / non-organic production sector (10 % of the evaluation). The result is a triple score: a score of 100 points, a color code (green, yellow, orange, red) and an adjective (excellent, good, mediocre, bad).
Sometimes Yucca flirts with hypotheses (organic products are better, products containing sweeteners are preferred, aromas are classified as additives), which can distort the results of algorithm and alternatives presented as "healthier" .
Biological olives, for example, have a higher value, although they are much more salty than non -biological olives.
With the same nutritional qualities, non -biological honey (30/100) is defined as "mediocre" compared to its biological equivalent (60/100), which is declared "good". However, organic is an obligation of means, no results.
Yucca clearly supports the precautionary principle with regard to supplements. Even if it means being alarmist. But the terms "risk" and "danger" are not identical. Danger is a potential source of damage. The risk, on the other hand, takes into account exposure: it is the probability that this danger occurs (or not). We have found many differences.
In conclusion, if the intention is good, the promise is like the Holy Grail: it is now utopian to believe that one can "assess" a food in this way. There are no "good" or "bad" foods in the diet. The question is more complicated and the answer is ambiguous.
The introduction of Nutri-Score on packaging last year already offers consumers a quick and easy tool for better food choices.
Nutri-Score gives a global assessment of the nutritional value of a food in a single letter. It takes into account the parameters to be favored (fibers, proteins, fruits, vegetables and nuts) and the parameters to limit (kilocalories
Long life in Yuka, download the application below:
Apple:
https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/yuka-scan-de-produits/id1092799236
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.yuka.android
Our products noted on Yuka
