No WSJ do passado dia 5 de Maio encontrei um artigo super-interessante, "Food Industry Wrestles With Shopping App":
"Nothing gets into Dendy Young's supermarket shopping cart unless it first passes the Yuka test.
Yuka is a mobile app. It features an orange carrot icon and lets users scan product bar codes. For food, it generates a score from one to 100 based on nutritional quality, additives and whether it is organic.
Shoppers like Young heed Yuka's advice. The 77-year-old entrepreneur said he has sworn off Hellmann's mayonnaise ever since the app pointed out that it is made with calcium disodium EDTA, a synthetic additive used to preserve foods.
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Already food-scanning apps are changing what grocers sell and consumers buy, and prompting some manufacturers to reformulate their products to boost scores.
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The apps' growing popularity poses a new challenge for food companies. Chicago-based Conagra, maker of Healthy Choice frozen meals, says its products are among the healthiest in the category, low in fat, calories, and sodium, with high-quality protein and no artificial colors. Yuka, however, recently rated 12 out of 16 Healthy Choice products at a Chicago supermarket as "poor," due in part to additives such as sodium phosphate and carrageenan. Products under the brand's Simply Steamers line, which tend to have more protein and fewer additives, received an "excellent" rating. Conagra Chief Executive Sean Connolly said that no one app is the authority over nutrition. "There are a lot of opinions out there," he said, adding that the opinions that matter most to Conagra are those of its consumers.
But Conagra's consumers use Yuka, too. Thousands have complained about additives in the company's products, using a feature on the app that enables shoppers to send a pre-drafted message via email or social media asking food makers to remove additives.
Companies including Campbell's and Chobani have responded to such requests concerning dipotassium phosphate or other additives, according to emails viewed by The Wall Street Journal. They largely defend the use of their ingredients, citing federal approval. Chobani said it appreciates and encourages consumers' feedback. The company said that after two years of work, its oat milk recipe-which had included dipotassium phosphate-now contains only natural ingredients.
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Yuka launched in France in 2017 and in the U.S. three years later. Nearly one-third of Yuka's 68 million users are in the U.S., Chapon said, and an average of 25,000 new U.S. users have joined daily since the start of the year. At the beginning of May, it ranked as the No. 1 health-and-fitness app in Apple's app store.
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She said that in France, the number of additives in food products declined as Yuka grew in popularity. Noting the app's influence, French supermarket chain Intermarché since 2019 has reformulated more than 1,100 products, removing about 140 additives.
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Jack McNamara, CEO of seltzer maker Tru, said he first learned about Yuka while handing out samples at a Los Angeles Costco. Shoppers began pulling out their phones and scanning Tru's bar code. Yuka gives Tru drinks a score of 43 or 48 out of 100"poor"-in part because they contain stevia and erythritol, sweeteners that Yuka says carry risks. McNamara said he doesn't fully agree with Yuka's methodology, which deducts points for drinks that aren't water, but he takes the app's input seriously.
"Platforms like Yuka are going to have massive repercussions," McNamara said.
Tru, which he said rates better than many competitors, is trialing new versions of its drinks that would fetch higher scores, using less or none of the sweeteners."
Vivemos numa época em que os consumidores têm, literalmente na palma da mão, o poder de influenciar a indústria alimentar. A aplicação Yuka é um exemplo de como a tecnologia pode devolver às pessoas o controlo sobre aquilo que consomem. Simples de utilizar, transparente nos critérios e eficaz na mobilização — a Yuka não apenas informa, como transforma.
Milhões de utilizadores já mudaram os seus hábitos graças à aplicação. Produtos que antes passavam despercebidos são agora lidos à lupa: não apenas pelas calorias ou pelo açúcar, mas pelos aditivos, pelo grau de processamento, pela ausência de informação clara. E o impacto é real. Marcas como a Chobani reformularam receitas. Cadeias de supermercados como o Intermarché reformularam mais de mil produtos. Este é o novo normal.
Perante isto, o caminho não é negar ou ridicularizar a mudança, como fizeram a Conagra ou a Consumer Brands Association, que preferem desvalorizar a autoridade da aplicação em nome da “complexidade nutricional”. Essa resistência soa, cada vez mais, a receio de perder o controlo da narrativa.
Aplicações como a Yuka não vêm substituir os reguladores; vêm acelerar a mudança que os consumidores há muito desejam. A mensagem é clara: quem quiser continuar relevante, terá de ser transparente, escutar e estar pronto a melhorar.
Em vez de combater estas ferramentas, as empresas fariam melhor em estudá-las, aprender com elas, e usá-las como bússolas para inovar com sentido.
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