That there is already today an application for practically everything you can imagine does not mean that its functionality and efficiency is proven. Because in this digital universe there are also deceptions or statements that generate many doubts about their reliability. Put like this in context, below we will explain if the Yuka app is reliable or if what he assures you is not completely truthful. This is a very specific case in which the Association for the self-regulation of Commercial Communication (Autocontrol) in a recent opinion. That which is added to other aspects that greatly question the objective of the tool to smartphones whose distinctive symbol is a carrot. Be careful, consumer!
This is how this application is to eat healthier
As we can read in the detailed information of Yuka, It is a app which "analyzes food and cosmetic products to decipher their composition and evaluate their effects on health." What he wants is that you can eat healthier by understanding "the labels" of everything you buy in the supermarket. Its operation is very simple, since you only have to scan the barcode of a product and visualize the various details that are displayed. Sugar content, energy value, saturated fat, additives... Actually it tells you all that you can read on the label of the same food. However, it goes one step further.
Because what the application offers you is a badge of four different colors (from red to green) to classify each product as «excellent, good, mediocre or bad«. According to its content, it thus classifies having three variables as evaluation criteria, without this ensuring whether it is reliable the Yuka app:
- Nutritional quality
- Presence of additives
- Ecological character
The creators of this tool available on mobile devices and tablets they point out that until 700.000 products food can be analyzed, in addition to other 300.000 cosmetics. Even another function is based on recommending you healthier alternatives to those options whose rating is negative.
Regardless of brands
Under this umbrella that Yuka es 100% independent, the tool heals in health (pun intended) when it is not influenced by commercial brands. Therefore, the evaluations and recommendations that they give of products are objective. But this does not mean that it exists veracity in everything they affirm or advertise. Let's see why.
For FIBA, the Yuka app is not reliable
One of the latest setbacks it has suffered is related to the publicity it gives for users to download and use the application. From the Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (fairy tale), filed a claim against Yuka for presenting itself as "a tool that improves consumer health by trying to influence their purchase options." The response from Self-control It has been blunt. It states that "it does not seem that the veracity of an advertisement can be affirmed that, in a resounding and unqualified manner", conveys a message of allowing "in any case and in an absolute way to improve health."
Even, sometimes, the information you give about ingredients is provided by the own users, something that may contain errors. This is how they explain it from Yuka, from where they dissociate themselves from any responsibility in this regard. Since fairy tale Even the ratings given to foods "without any scientific rigor" are criticized when making that decision to classify whether they are good or bad.
Other reasons to doubt her
But other reasons that show that it is not the Yuka app is reliable They come from your "objective" criteria. For the evaluation, it is used in the 60% to the nutritional traffic light of Nutriscore, for him 30% your additive level and 10% remaining corresponds to whether the product is ecological. Now, let's go in parts. First, that new labeling adopted by Spain still has nuances to refine, as recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Health Spanish.
Then, on the subject of classifying the additives according to your risk, this is not entirely correct either, since the EFSA consider these elements safe in their proper doses. In many foods, they are necessary. However, since Yuka scaremongering is carried over and they are based on "independent studies." Finally, that a product is sustainable financing model does not mean that it is healthy. You have to know how to differentiate both concepts. Therefore, if the Yuka app is reliable it is quite questionable.
