This New Tool Tells You Exactly What’s In Your Food

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently announced they have created a new, easy-to-use food database and a mobile app that tells you exactly what you’re eating. It’s called Food Score: Rate Your Plate and will allow consumers to see exactly what is in their food, including up to 1,500 brands and over 80,000 food items.

So, How Does Food Scores Work?

Food Scores offers consumers the ability to see not only the nutrition and ingredients in their food, but also access how it’s made and points out any potential dangerous ingredients, if the food includes any. Consumers will also have the ability to see if their foods contain specific contaminants and even be able to see how much processing the food went through to get to their plate.

What’s even better is that foods that contain dairy and animal products will include how many, if any, antibiotics and hormones they contain, along with how and where they were sourced. Consumers will also be able to see if foods are dairy-free and vegan.

Foods will be given a rating from 1 (best) – 10 (worst), and can even be categorized to each person’s needs, such as if gluten-free foods are of interest, or perhaps they’re looking to get pregnant. The database has a interactive feature function that can be customized, depending on your life stage, dietary choices, age, gender, and more. Users will be provided with a nutrition panel for every food and can even customize the app to search for certified organic and non-GMO foods.

Consumers can access Food Scores online and also download a free, mobile-friendly app that reveals information about the food, all in one quick bar scan.

Be Warned: Most Food Findings Weren’t Healthy

Over 60 percent of the foods tested in the EWG’s analysis for the new database included refined or added sugars. For example, 92 percent of all the granola tested had high amounts of refined or added sugars, along with many yogurts, deli meats, stuffing products, trail mix, nut butters, salad dressings, crackers, and cereals.

The average food in EWG’s Food Scores also has 14 ingredients, a 46 percent chance of having artificial or natural flavors, a 14 percent chance of having artificial colors, and  averages around 446 milligrams of salt per 100 grams of food (which is about 30 percent of your daily needs in one serving.)

The GMA Doesn’t Agree With Food Scores

The Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, however, doesn’t agree. They seem to believe that consumers will overlook the new ratings and won’t go through the time to find out what’s in their food. They also believe the new system is flawed and will prevent consumers from enjoying their favorite foods and beverages. Not surprisingly, the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association urges people to follow the USDA’s Choose My Plate format instead.

How Food Scores Can Help:

The hopes of the new database isn’t to show readers how bad our food supply is, but to make them make more sustainable, healthier choices and give them an insight into what their foods go through to get to their plate. Hopefully, Food Scores will help consumers choose more whole foods, and be able to access a database of processed foods in an easy-to-read format, unlike anything we’ve seen before.

To learn how to use Food Scores, visit the EWG website and check out the video below: