Finnian O'Luasa, Manager France & Belgium, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board
As described in an earlier Bord Bia Food alert in March 2019, the appearance of Nutriscores on product is further impacted by food scoring apps which allow French consumers to have a nutritional appreciation of a product using hand held apps that go beyond the simple A to D nutricore. Yuka , with over 10 million downloads is the most well-known app which not only gives an overall score out of 100 on the nutritional value of the product but also lists harmful additives and proposes alternative cleaner label products. The initial data base for these apps comes from Open Food Facts, a non-profit French organisation that has listed the ingredients and other facts of over 660 thousand products. However Yuka have since moved to creating their own database and plan international expansion to the US in addition to the 6 European countries where they’re already present. As an indication to Yuka’s success, others are following their path such as French retailer Systeme U who launched their version (Y a quoi dedans) and the French consumer association 60 million de consommateurs who also plan to launch their own scoring app to detect toxic products in food, cosmetics and cleaning products. It will be called “Mon assistant conso”.
According to a French consumer survey (IFOP-Charal, October 2019) 25% of French consumers already use scoring apps to help purchasing decision. The influence this has on product development by both retailers and manufacturers is growing. An example is the French retail groupe Intermarché who announced in September 2019 that they would eliminate 142 additives from 900 of their products within 18 months.
The use of these apps demonstrates the growing trend in health and wellbeing as identified in Bord Bia’s consumer lifestyle trends and being enhanced by growing digital connectivity. Ingredients and quality of additives are therefore becoming strong USP’s for product development not only in France but globally.
Sources:
https://www.franceinter.fr/yuka-l-application-qui-force-intermarche-a-revoir-ses-recettes
Open food facts: https://fr.openfoodfacts.org/
https://www.lineaires.com/les-produits/l-incroyable-carton-de-yuka?sso=1562677781
https://www.bfmtv.com/economie/60-millions-de-consommateurs-veut-aussi-lancer-son-yuka-1782545.html
https://www.lsa-conso.fr/l-ufc-va-lancer-son-application-nutritionnelle-alimentaire,331216