Yuka: The French Food and Cosmetics Scanner Taking Shop Floors by Storm
It’s 10:30 pm, and I’m staring at a plain bag of granola in Mainsbury’s. My head is swimming, my energy’s sapped, I’m seeing floating dots in my vision, and my nausea is so bad I’ve hunched over so as not to disturb the folks glancing concernedly down the aisle. I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a condition which, amongst other things, causes severe immune breakouts and chronic fatigue, and I’m halfway through one of the worst symptom flares of my life.
Despite knowing its cause - irresponsible eating and drinking, uni stress, sleep deprivation – I was not able to resolve my feelings of panic and helplessness, and so I’m left squinting at every ingredients label I put into my basket, hoping it doesn’t send me into another downward spiral. Up until a year ago, I had no idea of how to navigate these flares, but since living in France around a year ago, something’s finally changed. Fumbling for my phone and swearing half-heartedly about ableist biases in capitalism, I finally have a tool for figuring out how to live with my body. Yuka, a French grassroots non-profit app, is that guide.
The app’s basic concept is simple: users can scan food or cosmetics barcodes, and the app will display a detailed breakdown of ingredients, effects on bodily health, and their position in EU regulations. These breakdowns then identify which additives are at risk of causing harm, which have been proven to do so, and which potentially trigger sensitive physiologies or immune systems - often specifying which conditions might be affected. The app tracks all trace allergens and whether a product is safe for pregnant consumers and includes a final percentage of the product’s impact with a detailed explanation of why. It has been an absolute game-changer for French commerce.
‘La philosophie derrière l'application,’ explained Julie Chapon, one of the three original co-founders, ‘c'est vraiment d'avoir un impact positif sur la société et d'aider les consommateurs à faire de meilleurs choix pour leur santé et pour l'environnement, mais aussi de conduire les industriels à améliorer leur offre de produits.’ (‘The philosophy behind the application is really to have a positive impact on society and help consumers make better choices for their health and environment, but it’s also to drive industry producers to improve their range of offerings’ - recent interview, Radio Canada).
Such a direct - and in a world of corporate spin - unique political appeal from a tech start-up might rightly arouse suspicion in those who say there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. Still, Yuka’s approach has been a landmark case for French consumer politics. Not only do their metrics draw from publicly available and directly cited sources, including the largest open-source food database, Open Food Facts, but the company also runs a policy of complete financial transparency. Each of their sources of income is publicised on their website as part of their non-profit goal, with the proportions used to keep the app running: this includes sales of their cookbook, ‘Yuka: le guide d’alimentation saine’ (‘Yuka: The Healthy Eating Guide), and their premium edition, which permits a user also to view the entire database as a whole. In a world of unprofitable Silicon Valley enterprises, this gamble could be destined to fail, but Yuka has managed to stay afloat.
Two possible factors might contribute to this success. The first - is its user base, who’ve paid testament to the app’s popularity by entering the ingredients label of almost every relevant commercial product in Europe, leaving the team to link ingredients to their database of studies and regulators. The second, rather unique to France, is the pride French culture has taken in the independent press over the last 150 years. Despite only ranking 24th on the RSF International Press Freedom Index, France has retained a universal press subsidy since the beginning of the 20th century, offering an annual stipend to any journalistic organisation regardless of their affiliations, which provides a level of non-partisan financial support unequalled by any other nation. Not only this, but the country’s idiosyncratic blend of developed institutions and anti-establishment spirit has produced a cultural respect for those ‘médias indépendants’ who refuse government funding and choose to survive on their own merits - the most well-known example being the incendiary investigative newspaper Médiapart. Yuka’s status, then, as an independent, peer-reviewed reporter who’ve kept afloat without resorting to government subsidies, has created a strong impulse in French commerce of which several major companies have been obliged to take note.
One factor that may explain the app’s surge in popularity has been the general public’s loss of faith in so-called ‘Bio’ products. These labels previously allowed major companies such as Carrefour to gain status for removing pesticides while still using environmentally detrimental practices and additives. Where these promises have often failed to pass, Yuka has ostensibly allowed a connection between public commercial discourse and peer-reviewed data that has placed a new obligation on companies, Carrefour included, to change their production methods to improve their standing on Yuka. The app’s widespread success has provoked new demands for public transparency from French food sellers - La Fourche, who recently made their Yuka score visible for each available product. Not only are consumers learning to demand transparent information from producers with peer-reviewed backing, but the onus on companies to produce this information has produced a need for a clearly explained database of objective sources and guidance - a need Yuka has been perfectly placed to provide. Financing from major companies seeking to live up to their metrics and a loyal consumer base who’ve been able to enjoy the benefits without stretching their bank accounts is the benefit Yuka’s corporate model has been able to produce.
Interviewed recently, Chapon was keen to note that ‘La mise en garde, c'est de se dire que Yuka est un outil de prévention et pas un outil de décision. C'est un outil d'information qui doit permettre aux consommateurs de faire des choix éclairés.’ (‘The main safeguard is to note that Yuka is a tool of prevention, not decision. It is solely an information provider, which must permit its consumers to make clear choices.’) While the app may not be a conclusion to the discourse around health and the environment, the team’s laudable contribution can be said to offer clear information and guidance, allowing consumers to make informed decisions about whether they are healthy or not. For consumers such as myself, an increasing demographic of folks who’ve begun diagnosing their long-ignored health problems, this app represents a positive step forward in the fight to stand level with the companies we purchase from. I might not always reach for the healthiest item in the supermarket, I might fill my cart with any number of alcoholic or inflammatory indulgence, but at least I now have some control over the future of my body. Business students take note.