The FoodSwitch App

FoodSwitch gives you immediate, easy-to-understand information about packaged food products, as well as a list of similar foods that are healthier choices. You can access this through the app by scanning the product barcode using your smartphone camera.

Each nutrient in a product in FoodSwitch has been rated and by using the colour-coded Traffic-Light Labels, it makes it easy to see how healthy a food is based on nutrients like total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt.

Each product you see in FoodSwitch has been rated for its amount of energy, saturated fat, sugar and salt, as well as for other important food components including protein, dietary fibre, fruit vegetables nuts and legumes (FVNL) content, and for some products, calcium. The Health Star Rating (HSR) considers all of these factors to give you an idea of how healthy the product is overall; a lower star rating indicates a less healthy choice and a higher star rating indicates a healthier choice.

Each product in FoodSwitch is rated for its total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt content. The Traffic Light ratings tell you if a product is low (green), medium (amber), or high (red) in these food components, based on widely-accepted nutritional standards.

The app identifies healthier choices by comparing the overall nutritional value of foods. The algorithm used is based on the nutrient profiling system, which was originally developed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand. It takes into account the different factors important to good nutrition, including fats, sugars, salt, energy, protein, dietary fibre, fruit vegetables nuts and legumes (FVNL) content, and (for some products) calcium.

FoodSwitch in Traffic Light Label mode displays values for salt, while the nutrition label on the packaging of a product usually lists sodium. The difference is that salt is made up of sodium and chloride. To get the salt content of a product, you would need to multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5. FoodSwitch has already done this calculation for you.

FoodSwitch is powered by a large, independent packaged food products database. However, because there are always new products coming on the market and some products are only available in certain areas, not all food products available in your country are in the database yet. This is why we encourage FoodSwitch users to help us add to the database using the “help us out” functionality.

We trust manufacturers to put the correct information on label. If something unusual is noticed please use the “Report Issue” function in the app to send us information.

If you scan a packaged food product that isn’t in the database, you’ll be invited to help us out, by taking four photos – one of the barcode, one of the front of pack, one of the nutrition label and one of the ingredient list. FoodSwitch will then automatically email these pictures to us to validate the item and add it to the database.

Please note that with users contributing hundreds of photos to the database every day, it can take some time for the product to appear in the FoodSwitch app. We also need to complete a series of quality control checks before listing products on the app.

Products may be listed in several retailers or sometimes only in one. Also, products may only be available in certain sized stores or in certain regions. The app lists healthier choices that have been captured on a national basis and so may not be available at a particular store.

The database is updated regularly and undergoes several stages of check. If you find an error, please contact us on the website, or by email at foodswitch@georgeinstitute.org.au. 

We have no commercial relationship with any food manufacturers that would affect information presented. Products are rated using science-based methods and alternatives are recommended solely on the basis of their healthiness.

The health issues caused by packaged foods are essentially the same irrespective of nationality. Excess quantities of salt, sugar, harmful fat and calories are a problem for everyone. The Australian and UK profiling models have undergone a lot of scrutiny and validation.

The healthier choices we suggest are based on typical adult consumers. People with particular diseases like high blood pressure or high cholesterol may need more specific advice.

Around the world, compulsory food composition labelling on packaged food products needs to include a nutrition label. This is often found on the back of the product in very small print. Studies show that the nutrition label only influences the food purchases of a small minority of people who are very motivated and well informed about how to make healthier food choices. Many studies suggest that front-of-pack (FoP) labelling systems such as the Health Star Rating can help consumers interpret the information and make healthier food choices.

In June 2014, the Australian government agreed to the voluntary implementation of an interpretive ‘Health Star Rating’ (HSR) front-of-pack labelling system for packaged foods in Australia. The HSR System is based on an algorithm that awards a star rating, based on the quantity of specific food components within the product, which gives you an idea of how healthy the product is overall – a lower star rating indicates a less healthy choice and a higher star rating indicates a healthier choice.

The HSR system then makes it easier for you to compare similar products within a food category, based on their number of stars. This highlights that while all foods can have a place in your diet, some are better for you than others.

Research shows some people find colour-coded labelling easier to understand than other systems. The Traffic Light Labels display colour ratings based on 100g of a product. This helps consumers compare products quickly and easily. If a specific nutrient of a product has any nutritional data missing, it will appear in grey with a dash (-) under the nutrient that is missing.

Download FoodSwitch from either the Apple App Store or Google Play store using your mobile device.

The app is free of charge. An internet connection (mobile data or Wi-Fi) is required to download it. Standard usage charges may apply if using mobile data – check with your internet and mobile service providers for more information.

FoodSwitch is designed specifically for each country and is different in each country in which it is released. This is because the barcodes on foods are specific to each country. For example, if you use the Australian version of FoodSwitch outside of Australia it will likely give incorrect results.

The 10-step method builds on an initial research study that estimated added sugar values on the basis of analytical data and ingredients in FoodSwitch. This method has been modified to apply to packaged food products in FoodSwitch. The method is summarised in more detail below:

Steps 1&2 - Products are evaluated directly, based on the nutrition information available on the label.

Step 3&4 - Products are evaluated based on the presence or absence of added sugar ingredients. 

Step 5&6 - Products are evaluated based on their food category - those assessed as being unprocessed or minimally processed with no added sugar (Step 5) and then those that generally contain minimal amounts of naturally occurring sugar (Step 6)

Step 7 - Products are evaluated based on nutrition information (lactose) declared on the label.

Step 8 - Products are evaluated by comparing to a similar reference food with no added sugar

Step 9&10 - Products are evaluated based on a category proportional method whereby the category is assigned the same proportion of added sugar as a reference category (Step 9) with the remaining categories assigned 50% of sugars as added sugar (Step 10).

Limitations

Category level assignments and other assumptions are made in assigning a food an added sugar value. There are therefore inherent limitations in the accuracy of the value assigned to any food without added sugar information on its label. FoodSwitch will continue to develop the approach to provide more accurate estimates for added sugar.

You can give feedback or ask a question by email at mobilefeedback@georgeinstitute.org.au

Download and read the FoodSwitch Global Terms of Use (PDF 115KB)

Download and read the FoodSwitch Australia Terms of Use (PDF 305KB)

Download and read the FoodSwitch Australia Privacy Policy (PDF 114KB)