There seem to be quite a few iPhone apps available targeting those with allergies, food intolerances or dietary needs and the problems faced when shopping and having to read tiny ingredients lists on everything to check for allergens. These new barcode scanner apps make life so much simpler.
They all work in the same way in that you first download the app from the app store, open the app, and then use the phone like a camera and aim it at the barcode, once the image has been scanned the app will return with the relevant information based on your preset preferences. So here, in alphabetical order to avoid favouritism, are CanIEatIt?, FoodWiz and IsItInIt?
Can I Eat It? – www.canieatit.eu
As seen in the Telegraph magazine Food & Home section, the Can I Eat It? app, invented by the food journalist Martin Isark, is a food a drink barcode scanner that indicates whether an item is suitable to eat based on dietary, religious, ethical or nutritional preferences. The Telegraph describes this one as, “a boon when dealing with picky eaters…”. ‘Picky Eaters!’ ‘Dealing with…’ Don’t you just love being described like that? Special thanks to The Telegraph’s food news writer Carolyn Hart for this lovely description.
This one only costs £1.99 from the app store but I wasn’t able to download it to my phone – you need a camera with autofocus so the iPhone 4G would be compatible. It’s also a shame I can’t actually review it properly but I can tell you that currently you can select your preferences from: Gluten free, Kosher, Low fat, Low Salt, Low Sugar, or Vegan. You can use it in Aldi, Asda, The Co-operative Food, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco & Waitrose.
FoodWiz – www.foodwiz.co
Currently Foodwiz covers all the major allergen groups. When you have download the app you need to register on the FoodWiz website which allergens you need to avoid e.g. Gluten, Celery/Celeriac, Wheat, Sesame Seeds, Milk (including Lactose), Peanuts, Fish, Tree nuts, Crustaceans, Sulphites, Molluscs, Lupin, Soya, Mustard and Eggs.
To use FoodWiz you don’t need to be connected to the internet but you do need to make sure you reguarly ‘sync’ the app with the centrally held database, which is constantly being updated with more and more products and barcodes. This little app costs just £10 +VAT per year and you get a 30 day free trial.
You can read more about FoodWiz in a previous review I wrote called: “Testing the new Foodwiz iPhone app for allergy food scanning”.
IsItInIt? – www.isitinit.co.uk
Last but by no means least is Sainsbury’s own app, IsItInIt?, which they call their ‘food angel’. Obviously it’s only available to use in Sainsbury’s and you do need to have a 3G connection to scan items. After a free 7 day trial you will be invited to sign up for only £10 a year.
The website for this app doesn’t seem to be live just yet so I wasn’t able to activate and register my phone to test the app. Is this one still going? Has anyone tried it?
Now I’d love to hear from anyone who has used any of these apps. Do you find them useful? Or have you gone back to reading ingredients in the normal way. Are they reliable? Should we trust them implicitly or still double check? Does it speed shopping up or in face, slow it down?
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My sister has started using FoodWiz and is finding it ok. Certainly makes shopping easier.
Afraid the Isitinit app has not survived!
The apps seem like a cookie idea bit I am not sure that they really save very much shopping, label reading time. There have been a number of sites and gadgets designed to help allergic people shop but all they really do is give you a different way of reading the same labels so most people end up by just reading the labels!
I did wonder about the Sainsbury’s app. They are all a bit gimmicky, but I guess if you were visually impaired it would be really useful. I think I would tend to read the label too just to check! But could help to identify hidden allergens. One thing I’m not sure about is whether it would flag ‘may contain’ or ‘made in the same factory’ warnings etc. Could it lead to a false sense of security for those who are very sensitive? I might try them though just because I can but £10 isn’t cheap – if I never use it again.