It’s not often that a group of people from different backgrounds and interests come together to create an app that can change the way we view our food and cosmetic products. But that’s exactly what the team behind Yuka did.
Benoît, one of the co-founders, was a concerned father who wanted to provide his family with healthier food options. But he found himself overwhelmed by the labels on food products, unsure of what to choose. He shared his struggles with François and Julie during the Food Hackathon, and the idea for Yuka was born.
The team worked tirelessly to develop an app that could analyze food and cosmetic products and provide a rating system based on their potential health risks. They knew they wanted Yuka to be independent, transparent, and ad-free. And they achieved it.
Yuka’s food product scores are based on three criteria: nutritional quality, the presence of additives, and the organic dimension. Nutritional quality is 60% of the score and is based on the Nutri-Score method, which takes into account calories, sugar, salt, saturated fats, protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables. Yuka supplements the Nutri-Score method to give it more depth and avoid threshold effects, which can accentuate score deviations between two products with similar nutrition facts. The presence of additives is 30% of the score, and benchmarks are based on the latest scientific research. Yuka assigns a risk level to every additive based on various existing studies, with hazardous additives resulting in a maximum score of 49/100. The organic dimension is 10% of the score and is a bonus granted to products considered organic, i.e. those with an official national or international organic label.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The team faced numerous challenges along the way, from finding the right team members to building a comprehensive database of food and cosmetic products. They also had to ensure that Yuka’s scoring system was based on the latest scientific research, which was no easy feat.
Despite these challenges, the team persevered, driven by their passion for helping people make better choices for their health. And their hard work paid off. Today, Yuka is one of the most popular product scanning apps, with over 13 million downloads and counting.
One of the things that sets Yuka apart from other product scanning apps is its commitment to data protection. Yuka does not process or sell user data, and all user data remains strictly confidential. This is a crucial aspect of the app’s independence and transparency.
Another unique feature of Yuka is its scoring system, which takes into account nutritional quality, the presence of additives, and the organic dimension for food products, and the potential health risks of each ingredient for cosmetic products. This provides users with a comprehensive overview of the products they are considering, along with recommendations for healthier options.
Yuka’s scoring system for cosmetics analyzes every ingredient that goes into the product. Each ingredient is assigned a risk level according to its potential effects on health or the environment: endocrine disruptive, carcinogenic, allergenic, irritant, or polluting. Ingredients are classified into four risk categories: risk-free (green dot), low risk (yellow dot), moderate risk (orange dot), and hazardous (red dot). The score is based on the level of the highest-risk ingredient present in the product, with hazardous ingredients resulting in a score lower than 25/100.
Yuka’s commitment to independence and transparency is further demonstrated by its premium version. By subscribing to the Member version of the app, users can access additional features such as a search bar, offline mode, and custom alerts. This premium version is crucial to maintaining the app’s independence and ensuring that Yuka can continue to provide unbiased recommendations.
Yuka is more than just an app. It’s the result of a group of passionate individuals who came together to create something that could make a difference. Yuka is a tool that empowers users to make informed decisions about the products they use and consume, based on the latest scientific research. And that’s something we can all get behind.
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