You’re at your local supermarket. The many brand choices of packaged food can be overwhelming, and these products are often surprisingly high in salt, added sugar, saturated fat and kilojoules. So how can you decide what to put in your basket and make healthier choices for you and your family?
The free FoodSwitch app, developed by Bupa and The George Institute, can help you find out what is in the food you’re eating and suggest simple, healthier switches for you and your family.
How FoodSwitch works
Select
FoodSwitch comes with handy filters to suit different health needs.
If you’re using the SaltSwitch, EnergySwitch, FatSwitch or SugarSwitch filters, the healthier choices listed must also have a lower amount of the relevant nutrient (salt, kilojoules, saturated fat, and total sugar respectively) than the product you scanned.
If you’re using GlutenSwitch, the healthier choices in GlutenSwitch include only gluten-free alternatives.
Scan
Use the autofocus camera on a supported smartphone or tablet to scan a packaged food’s barcode to get easy-to-understand nutritional information.
View results as either traffic-light style or Health Star Rating (HSR) labels. Both modes deliver results for energy, saturated fat, sugar, and salt so you can see at a glance how healthy the food item is.
If you’re in GlutenSwitch mode, you’ll also get an indication of whether the scanned food product contains gluten or not.
Switch
When you scan a food product you’ll also get a list of healthier choices you can switch to.
No matter which filter you’re using, healthier choices are first identified by comparing the overall nutritional value of foods based on the Health Star Rating score algorithm, taking into account a range of different factors important to general health including saturated fat, sugars, salt, energy, protein, dietary fibre, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes (FVNL) content, and for some products, calcium.
Save, share and support
Add an item to a shopping list, share the information with others, or help us improve the app by reporting any potential issues.
Filters
FoodSwitch Classic
This filter is great for anyone looking to make overall healthier food choices.
SaltSwitch
This filter is great for people with, or being treated for, high blood pressure. It’s also useful for people with heart disease and kidney disease because it only lists healthier choices that have a lower amount of salt than the scanned product.
GlutenSwitch
This filter helps people living with coeliac disease or a gluten intolerance to identify gluten-free products.
Color
Gluten status
Red
Contains gluten.
Amber
Likely gluten-free. This product is not marketed as gluten free but has no gluten-containing ingredients listed on the label.
Green
Gluten-free. This product is reported as gluten free by the manufacturer and/or is naturally gluten free. Please check the label.
Grey
Unknown. This product has not yet been classified as gluten free or not and its gluten status is unknown.
It also gives you gluten-free alternatives listed in order of how healthy they are.
FatSwitch
This filter has been designed for people with, or being treated for, high cholesterol . This filter only lists healthier choices that have a lower amount of saturated fat than the scanned product.
EnergySWitch
This filter can help people choose foods with lower energy (kilojoules) to help them manage their energy needs.
SugarSwitch
This filter helps people choose healthier foods with less total sugar.
Viewing modes
Traffic Light Labelling mode
In ‘Traffic Light’ Labelling mode, you’ll see colour-coded ratings to let you know if a product is low (green), medium (amber) or high (red) for 4 key food components (total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt).
Health Star Rating mode
In Health Star Rating (HSR) mode, you’ll get an idea of how healthy a product is by a star rating from 0.5 to 5 stars. The higher the star rating, the healthier the food is overall.
About FoodSwitch
Bupa and The George Institute for Global Health joined forces to develop FoodSwitch as part of the Healthy Foods Initiative: helping Australians to make healthier food choices.
Making even small changes to our diets, such as consuming a little less salt and added sugar, and eating less fat (particularly saturated fat) and energy (kilojoules) could prevent many health problems in Australia including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and type 2 diabetes. This could in turn help reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes and some cancers.
Starting in the supermarket aisle, FoodSwitch is just one of the ways that we’re empowering you with access to information and innovative tools to help you make informed decisions about what you eat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all the products in my local grocery store in the database?
FoodSwitch is powered by a large, independent packaged food products database in Australia, the result of years of ongoing research by food and health policy experts at The George Institute. However, as there are always new products coming on the market and some products only available in certain locations, not all food products available in Australia are in the database yet. This is why we encourage FoodSwitch users to help us add to the database.
If you scan a product that isn’t in the database, you can help by taking three photos through the app – one of the front of the product, one of the nutrition information panel and one of the ingredients list. These pictures will then automatically be sent to us so the item can be validated and added to the database. Please note that with users contributing more than 200 new products to the database every day, it can take some time for the product to appear in the FoodSwitch app as we need to first complete a series of quality control checks.
How can we be sure FoodSwitch information is correct?
The database is updated regularly by The George Institute’s team of researchers along with the help of FoodSwitch users who can send in feedback about a particular product through the app or on the website. You’ll receive alerts from time to time when the database is updated and/or a new version of the app becomes available.
Why does FoodSwitch offer two viewing modes?
Many studies suggest that front-of-pack (FoP) labelling systems can help consumers interpret nutrition information panels (NIP) to make healthier food choices.
Research shows some people find traffic light or other colour-coded front-of-pack food labelling helps helpful. And 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.
Both modes help highlight the fact that, while all foods can have a place in your diet, some are better for you than others.
What devices does FoodSwitch work on?
FoodSwitch works on:
Apple1 mobile devices that have a camera with auto-focus. Requires iOS 7.0 or later.
Android2 devices running versions 4.0.x and above that have a camera with auto-focus.
Please note that if you’re using a smartphone or tablet without a camera capable of auto-focus, the pictures of the barcode will be blurry and FoodSwitch will be unable to identify the barcode.
If you don’t have a compatible device, you can get the same experience by searching our database on the FoodSwitch website using your smartphone or PC.
Can I use the app outside Australia?
Currently, FoodSwitch can only be used in Australia, the UK and in New Zealand.
The FoodSwitch team is currently exploring opportunities to launch the app in other countries.
