Allergy or on a diet? This app checks the ingredients list for you (including those tiny words)
Anyone who knows me a little knows that I love convenience. And food (though you don’t even need to know me well for that). Now, I’m actually lactose intolerant, BUT I’m not very good at sticking to that. On the one hand, because unlike my stomach, my taste buds do enjoy dairy. On the other hand, because I have pills for it. And finally, because I’m simply too lazy to check everything.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, there is a solution to that last ‘problem’. In the form of an app called Soosee, to be precise. An app that uses Augmented Reality to scan the ingredients list on packaging—you know, those insanely tiny, unreadable letters—to check exactly which ingredients are in it. So within a few seconds, you know whether it contains something you’re allergic or intolerant to. But that’s not all: the app also checks for animal-derived E-numbers and palm oil. Ideal, then, for anyone with an allergy, intolerance or specific dietary requirements, such as vegans and vegetarians.
Even in the Netherlands, figuring out which ingredients are in products is quite a challenge, let alone abroad. To help holidaymakers abroad, the word list the app uses has also been translated into more than 12 languages, from French to Portuguese and from Finnish to Turkish. Every two weeks, the word lists are updated with feedback from users all over the world.
Ingredient maze
Jordi Bruin, the app’s creator and developer, came up with the idea because he too regularly had to make his way through an ingredient maze. His ex has an allergy to citrus fruits. “Every time, it turned out to be a challenge to make sense of the endless string of ingredients. This should be easier, I thought.”
The idea for the app had therefore been going around in his head for some time. “When I found myself at home at the beginning of the coronavirus period, I decided to use my time productively and see it through.” And so he did.
The app is now available to download for free for iPhone. Android users will have to be patient a little longer, but that app is coming too. In July, to be precise.
Free
Because the makers believe the app should be available to everyone, it’s free. Users can become a Soosee Supporter by donating 3.99 per year or a one-time fee of 4.49 euros. That way, you help improve the app and get some extra features that make things just a little easier. Access to the automatic scanner, for example, which automatically resets the camera when new products come into view. Handy!
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