Picture Desk · From the Aisle

What the magazine reads

Real packs, real shelves, real scans — the food the engine has been graded against. Drop your own photographs into site/images/products/ and they appear here automatically.

Feature · The Method

How a scan actually works

A scan is a two-track investigation. Track one is the free, community-built Open Food Facts database — instant and offline-friendly, with ~1,300 products bundled for no-signal shelves. Track two is a vision fallback that reads the pack itself when the barcode isn't in the database. Both feed the same on-device, deterministic scoring engine.

01
Barcode lookup

EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A/E, Code-128/39 and ITF-14 are all decoded. The scanner pings Open Food Facts — ingredients, additives, NOVA, official Nutri-Score — with the bundled catalog as offline fallback.
02
Label vision (optional)

Not in the database? Snap one-to-four photos of the pack. A Gemini vision call extracts ingredients and the nutrition table directly from the label.
03
Four-pillar scoring

Nutrition 35% · Ingredients 25% · Processing 20% · Additives 20%. Category-aware thresholds keep biscuits from being scored like dairy.
04
Health report

Score gauge, verdict, half-step stars, pillar bars, line-by-line factors, ingredient flags, additive chips, nutrition panel, marketing-claim detections, confidence metric, and share-ready card.

Cover Story · The Scoring Rubric

The Four Pillars

Every health score is a weighted average of four independent scores. We show all four in the report so a 70 isn't a black box — it's "great nutrition, hurt by ultra-processing."

35%

Nutrition

Category-aware penalties on sugar, saturated fat, salt and energy. Bonuses for fibre, protein and fruit-veg-nuts content. Beverages are scored stricter than solids; biscuits stricter than dairy.

Sugar · Nutri-Score thresholds, per 100g or 100ml
Saturated fat · banded penalty
Salt / sodium · tiered, with FSSAI cut-offs
Energy density · penalty above category cap
Fibre / protein / FVN · bonus offsets

25%

Ingredients

27 ingredient patterns, each graded −3 to +3. Position-weighted — the first three ingredients dominate the score, because that's where the bulk of the food actually is.

−3 · Palm oil, hydrogenated fat, HFCS, synthetic colour
−2 · Glucose-fructose syrup, maltodextrin, refined maida
−1 · Artificial sweeteners, named preservatives
+1 / +2 · Salt, water, citric acid, jaggery, honey
+3 · Whole grains, real fruit, nuts, pulses, cold-pressed oils

20%

Processing

The NOVA group penalty. Whole oats and milk pay no tax. Industrial formulations with additives unrecognisable as food pay the heaviest one.

NOVA 1 · no penalty
NOVA 2 · small penalty
NOVA 3 · moderate penalty
NOVA 4 · heavy penalty (the "ultra-processed" tax)

20%

Additives

Every E / INS code on the pack is looked up against a curated risk database. High-risk additives drop the pillar hard; cumulative additive count is itself a signal.

High risk · E102, E110, E127, E171, E249-251, E320
Moderate · E150d, E211, E220-223, E338, emulsifiers
MSG family · E621, E627, E631
Sweeteners · E950–E955
Six-plus additives · treated as a hallmark of UPF

Reference · The Verdict Ladder

Five verdicts. No fence-sitting.

The score becomes a verdict by way of four cut-offs. The cut-offs are public; the colours are calibrated; the sentence in the box is the one you'd actually say to a friend at the shelf.

80% & up

Trust it

Clean ingredients, solid nutrition. The pack lives up to its claims.

62 – 79%

OK in moderation

Generally fine. Watch portions, especially with sugar or salt.

45 – 61%

Be careful

More processed than it looks. Read the label, don't auto-buy.

25 – 44%

Not great

Junk-food territory. Treat as a treat, not a staple.

below 25%

Avoid

Ultra-processed with red flags. The marketing copy disagrees with the back of the pack.

Pull-Out · 60-Second Shelf Guide

Six essentials, before the trolley moves

From the "How We Judge It" pull-out. If you only remember six things at the supermarket, remember these.

1
Read the first three ingredients
By law they're listed by weight. If sugar, refined flour or palm oil shows up there, the marketing on the front doesn't matter.
2
Check sugar per 100g (or 100ml)
Solids: low < 5g, high > 22.5g. Drinks: even 5g/100ml is a lot. The pack rarely tells you per portion, on purpose.
3
Salt per 100g
Anything above 1.5g/100g salt is high. Sodium × 2.5 ≈ salt, if only sodium is shown.
4
Spot NOVA 4 from across the aisle
Long ingredient list, E-numbers, things you wouldn't find in a home kitchen — that's ultra-processed.
5
Distrust three words
"Natural", "no added sugar", "multigrain" have no legal meaning in India. They are marketing, not nutrition.
6
Look for the FSSAI licence
14-digit number on the pack. No licence = no sale. It's the floor, not a quality mark, but its absence is a hard no.

Whole grains

Whole wheat, oats, bajra, ragi, brown rice — intact fibre, slower glycaemic curve.

Real fruit & vegetables

Named with percentage — "tomato 18%", not "tomato flavour".

Nuts & seeds

Almond, peanut, sunflower seed — protein and good fat.

Pulses

Chickpea, moong, masoor — protein and fibre in one go.

Cold-pressed oils

Mustard, groundnut, olive — minimal refining.

Live yogurt cultures

Named strains, not just "milk solids".

Honey / jaggery

Still sugar, but minimally processed — treated more leniently than HFCS.

Citric / malic acid

Neutral — common, well-studied food acids.

Department · The Additives Desk

Every E / INS number, looked up the same way

A curated additive-risk list blends EFSA's recent re-evaluations, IARC monographs, and FSSAI rules. Every additive on a pack gets a risk band, and the band feeds the score — transparently.

Low risk · common, well-studied (ascorbic acid, lecithin)
Moderate · benzoates, sulphites, MSG, emulsifiers
Caution · caramel IV, artificial sweeteners
High risk · azo dyes, TiO₂, nitrites, BHA

Cumulative rule: six-plus additives on a single pack is itself a UPF signal, regardless of individual risk.

Exhibit A · live snippet from the database

E102  Tartrazine            — High
E104  Quinoline yellow       — High
E110  Sunset yellow          — High
E127  Erythrosine            — High
E171  Titanium dioxide       — High
E249  Potassium nitrite      — High
E250  Sodium nitrite         — High
E251  Sodium nitrate         — High
E320  BHA                    — High

E150d Caramel colour IV      — Moderate
E211  Sodium benzoate        — Moderate
E220  Sulphur dioxide        — Moderate
E223  Sodium metabisulphite  — Moderate
E338  Phosphoric acid        — Moderate
E407  Carrageenan            — Moderate
E433  Polysorbate 80         — Moderate
E466  CMC                    — Moderate
E471  Mono & diglycerides     — Moderate
E621  MSG                    — Moderate
E627  Disodium guanylate     — Moderate
E631  Disodium inosinate     — Moderate

E950  Acesulfame-K           — Caution
E951  Aspartame              — Caution
E952  Cyclamate              — Caution
E954  Saccharin              — Caution
E955  Sucralose              — Caution

E322  Lecithin               — Low
E330  Citric acid            — Low
E300  Ascorbic acid          — Low

The engine consults this on every scan — one band per code, one penalty per band.

Briefing · Processing Level

The NOVA briefing — four groups, one penalty

NOVA 1

Whole / minimally processed

Oats. Milk. Eggs. Fresh produce. No penalty.

NOVA 2

Culinary ingredients

Oils, butter, sugar, salt — used to cook NOVA 1 foods. Small penalty.

NOVA 3

Processed foods

Cheese, bread, canned vegetables, salted nuts. Moderate penalty.

NOVA 4

Ultra-processed

Sodas, biscuits, instant noodles, breakfast cereals, packaged snacks. Heavy penalty.

Reference · The Nutrition Desk

Thresholds, per 100g of solid (per 100ml of drink)

Penalties are banded, not linear — a tiny exceedance shouldn't drop the score off a cliff. Beverages run on a tighter rubric than solids.

Nutrient	Low	Moderate	High	What it earns
Sugar (solids)	< 5 g	5 – 22.5 g	> 22.5 g	High ⇒ heavy penalty
Sugar (drinks)	< 2.5 g	2.5 – 5 g	> 5 g	5g+/100ml is "soda-level"
Saturated fat	< 1.5 g	1.5 – 5 g	> 5 g	Banded penalty
Salt	< 0.3 g	0.3 – 1.5 g	> 1.5 g	Sodium × 2.5 ≈ salt
Energy	< 335 kJ	335 – 1675 kJ	> 1675 kJ	Above category cap = penalty
Fibre	< 3 g	3 – 6 g	> 6 g	Bonus ⇒ offsets sugar
Protein	< 5 g	5 – 12 g	> 12 g	Bonus ⇒ offsets energy
Fruit / veg / nuts	< 40 %	40 – 60 %	> 60 %	Real-food bonus

Method · Category-Aware Scoring

Ten rubrics, because a biscuit isn't a dairy

One threshold can't score a soda and a cheese the same way. Every scan is bucketed into one of ten categories, each with its own sugar / fat / salt cut-offs and its own "what counts as ultra-processed here" rule.

🥤

Beverages

Strictest sugar rule. 5g/100ml is high.

🥛

Dairy

Tolerates more fat, watches added sugar.

🍪

Biscuits & cookies

Refined flour and palm oil flagged hard.

🍫

Chocolate & candy

Sugar a given, but checks cocoa share.

🍟

Savoury snacks

Salt and acrylamide flag heavily.

🥣

Cereal

Sugar tested per 100g, not per portion.

🍜

Instant noodles / pasta

Sodium dominates the verdict.

🍞

Bread & bakery

Whole-grain share = bonus.

🥫

Spread / sauce

Sugar and palm tested first.

📦

General packaged

Fallback rubric — mid-strict.

Pull-Out · The Glossary

Words to distrust on the front of a pack

None of these terms have a legal definition under FSSAI rules. They are marketing claims, not nutrition facts. The engine cross-checks each one against the back of the pack.

Natural

Means nothing. Hydrogenated palm oil is, technically, natural.

Wholesome

A vibe, not a measurement.

Healthy

Reserved by FDA in the US under strict rules. Unregulated in India.

Diet / Lite

Lower than what? Usually lower than the same brand's regular version. Still high.

Multigrain

"Multi" can mean two of which the first is refined maida. Look for "whole-grain X %".

Real fruit

One drop counts. Demand the percentage.

Zero trans fat

Allowed if < 0.2g per serving — eat three servings, you've had some.

Sugar free

Almost always means artificial sweeteners. Read the additive list.

No added sugar

Often contains "fruit juice concentrate" — pure sugar by another name.

Baked, not fried

The processing changed; the calories rarely did.

Made with goodness of …

"With" is the loophole. "Goodness" is the marketing.

Immunity / Wellness

Buzzword. Cross-check against the nutrition panel.

Exposé · The Health-Washing Watch

"Natural." "Wholesome." "No added sugar."

The cover claims one thing. The ingredient list tells another story. When marketing copy disagrees with the panel on the back, the report flags it — not as opinion, but as a line-by-line mismatch.

"Made with real fruit" — but real fruit is below glucose-fructose syrup and palm oil in the ingredient list.

"No added sugar" — but contains fruit juice concentrate and maltodextrin.

"Multigrain" — but the first ingredient is refined wheat flour (maida).

"Baked, not fried" — but the fat per 100g is identical to the fried variant.

"Zero trans fat" — but ingredients include vanaspati and partially hydrogenated oil.

Compliance Desk · The Floor, Not The Ceiling

The FSSAI 14-point label checklist

Every legal packed food sold in India is required to show these. None of them mean the food is good for you — their absence means the food shouldn't be on the shelf.

FSSAI licence number (14 digits)
Product name & brand
Ingredient list, in descending order of weight
Nutritional information per 100g / 100ml
Veg / non-veg / vegan symbol
Allergen declarations, bolded
Net quantity, with units
Manufacturer / packer name & address
Country of origin (if imported)
Date of manufacture / packaging
"Best before" / use-by date
Batch / lot / code number
Storage instructions
Health Star Rating (where applicable; advisory)

Department · The Store

1,300+ products, pre-scored, browse before you buy

The Store tab is a magazine within the magazine — a browsable feed of popular products, every one already scored against the four pillars. Search by name or brand, filter by health band, work even offline.

Quaker

Rolled Oats · 1kg

91% · ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Amul

Toned Milk · 1L

74% · ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Britannia

Marie Gold · 250g

52% · ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Cadbury

Dairy Milk Silk · 60g

38% · ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Coca-Cola

Original · 750ml

18% · ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Maggi

Masala 2-Minute · 70g

22% · ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Britannia

Whole Wheat Bread · 400g

67% · ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Tropicana

100% Orange · 1L

81% · ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Filters available in-app

All
Trustworthy 80%+
OK 62–79%
Be careful 45–61%
Not great 25–44%
Avoid <25%

Department · The Archive

Every scan, kept — on your phone, not in a cloud

Scans are saved locally to a small SQLite store on device. Open the History tab to revisit a verdict, re-share a card, or compare last month's biscuit with this month's reformulation. The archive is yours; nothing is uploaded.

Local-first · SQLite on device, no servers
Chronological · latest at top, with the verdict colour
Re-openable · tap to load the full report again
Re-shareable · render the card without re-scanning

Feature · The Photo Reader

When the barcode draws a blank

Not every product is in Open Food Facts. For those, the Capture screen takes one-to-four photos of the pack and hands them to a vision model — which extracts the ingredient list and the nutrition table directly from the label.

📷

1. Capture the pack

Front, back, ingredients, nutrition panel — up to four shots.

🤖

2. Vision extracts text

Pick the model in Settings — Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 4.6 or Opus 4.7. Default: Sonnet.

🧠

3. Engine scores it

Same scoring engine as the barcode flow. Same four pillars.

📊

4. Confidence shown

The report displays a 0–1 confidence so you know how clean the read was.

Capture screen — The capture screen — up to four photos, then handed to the vision model.

Your API key is stored on the device. The vision call is made directly from the app — we never see the photo or the key.

New Feature · The Calorie & Diet Scanner

Snap a meal — learn what a portion really costs

The newest addition to the mobile app goes beyond the back of the pack. Photograph anything you eat — a packaged snack, a home-cooked thali, street food or a single fruit — and the Calorie & Diet Scanner estimates the calories and macros, then shows what a sensible portion looks like for your age. It is mobile-only, and every entry stays on your phone.

A real meal photographed for the Calorie & Diet Scanner — Point the camera at the plate — the scanner estimates the rest

📷

1. Snap the food

One to four photos of any meal — packaged or fresh. No barcode required.

🤖

2. AI estimates it

Google Gemini 2.5 (Flash-Lite, Flash or Pro) reads the plate and returns calories + macros, tuned for Indian household servings.

🍽️

3. Portion for your age

Pick an age band and the report scales the serving, then shows it as a share of your daily calories.

📊

4. Track the day

Log it to the daily ring, watch the macro bars fill, and review a 7-day trend.

Department · Age-aware portions

One plate, four different answers to “how much?”

Daily references are starting points, not prescriptions — override your own goal anytime in the tracker.

🧒 Kid · 4–12 yrs

~1,500 kcal/day reference · portions scaled to 55% of an adult serving.

🧑 Teen · 13–18 yrs

~2,300 kcal/day reference · portions scaled to 90%.

🧑‍💼 Adult · 19–50 yrs

~2,200 kcal/day reference · full-size portions (100%).

🧓 Mature · 50+ yrs

~1,800 kcal/day reference · portions scaled to 85%.

Macros, not just calories · carbs, protein, fat, fibre and sugar per serving
~70 Indian foods built in · common dishes estimate instantly, with no AI call
Daily ring & macro bars · today's intake against your goal at a glance
7-day report · calories and macro trends across the week

Education-first, not medical or dietary advice. Your food log and profile live only on the device — nothing is uploaded. The Gemini key you paste in Settings is used straight from the app, so we never see your photos or the key.

Department · Sharing

One tap, one shareable card

Every health report exports to a high-DPI PNG — rendered off-screen at pixel-ratio 3.0 and saved via the native share sheet. Group chats welcome.

For Operators · The Admin Desk

The back-office, behind the magazine

Authorised operators (admins listed in Firestore's admins/ collection) get a small console: live counts, promo-ad CRUD, user management, and a one-tap demo seeder for showcases.

Open the admin console →

Live dashboard

Server-side aggregate counts — users, total scans, enabled ads — without reading every document.

Promo ads (CRUD)

Title, body, image, CTA label/URL, priority, enabled flag, start / end dates, updatedBy / updatedAt timestamps.

User management

200 most-recent users: UID, email, scan count, login recency, anonymity, inline admin toggle with audit trail.

Demo seeder

One-tap repopulate sample ads + scans. Stable doc IDs — safe to re-run. Includes a "Clear all ads" button.

Featured products

Pin products to the top of the Store. Roadmap item; placeholder in shipping build.

Auth

Firebase Auth: anonymous + email/password. Per-user scan count and last-login tracked in users/.

From the Editor

Why we built this

Most "healthy" food labels are written by marketing teams. The nutrition panel — written by regulators — tells a more useful story, but in a language few of us learned to read. FoodFat is a magazine for the back of the pack: it reads the panel, applies a transparent scoring rubric, and prints a verdict you can actually act on at the shelf.

The scoring engine is on-device and deterministic. No cloud roulette — the same product produces the same score, every time, with every line of reasoning shown.

Sources: Open Food Facts (ODbL) for the bulk of the database; Nutri-Score thresholds for nutrition penalties; NOVA classification for the processing pillar; a curated additive-risk list blending EFSA re-evaluations, IARC monographs and FSSAI rules; a hand-written set of ingredient red-flags for the things the "foodfat" reviewers always call out.

— The FoodFat Editorial Bench

Subscribe · Free Forever

Carry the magazine in your pocket

FoodFat is a Flutter app for Android & iOS. Barcode lookups are free and need no setup. To analyse products that aren't in the database — by photographing the pack — paste an Anthropic API key in Settings.

▶ Get it on Android Download on iOS ⌬ Read the source

General information, not medical advice. Read the actual pack and consult a professional for anything that matters.

Is it really healthy? Scan it — and find out in seconds.

What the magazine reads

How a scan actually works

Barcode lookup

Label vision (optional)

Four-pillar scoring

Health report

The Four Pillars

Five verdicts. No fence-sitting.

Trust it

OK in moderation

Be careful

Not great

Avoid

Six essentials, before the trolley moves

Read the first three ingredients

Check sugar per 100g (or 100ml)

Salt per 100g

Spot NOVA 4 from across the aisle

Distrust three words

Look for the FSSAI licence

Sixteen ingredients the magazine flags

Palm oil

Hydrogenated / vanaspati

Glucose-fructose / HFCS syrup

Artificial colours

Synthetic dyes

Maida

Added sugar

Maltodextrin

Artificial flavours

MSG (E621)

Named preservatives

Artificial sweeteners

Refined oils

Added salt

Dough conditioner

Vague "edible vegetable oil"

Ingredients that earn the pack a bonus