A Quick Run-Down of the Yuka App

What is the Yuka App?

 

Every day, we see customers walk into our shop, phone in hand, ready to scan our products.

 

Even in our quiet Sussex countryside town, the Yuka App is going viral. More and more, we’re hearing that oncologists and healthcare professionals are advising their patients to scan their products with Yuka before purchasing to ensure they are “safe” to use.

 

For many, this comes as a complete shock. Just a few days ago, a customer told me she had scanned all the skincare and beauty products in her bathroom—many of which she had used for years, trusting them as premium, high-quality brands. To her surprise, most of them scored poorly on Yuka, prompting her to throw them away. She felt deceived, believing all this time that she had been using clean beauty products. She then checked her daughter’s skincare and cosmetics and was devastated to find that most of them were flagged as “bad” in red.

 

How Does the Yuka App Work?

 

Yuka is a free-to-use cosmetic and food scanning app. Once downloaded, you can simply scan the barcode of any skincare, beauty, or food product, and the app will instantly analyse its ingredients and assign a rating.

 

The scores are:

• Bad (0-25)
• Poor (25-50)
• Good (50-75)
• Excellent (75-100)

 

Armed with this information, consumers can make more informed decisions about the skincare, beauty, and food products they purchase.

 

Although Yuka is widely used for skincare and beauty products, it is also extremely useful for checking food labels. Many processed foods that are marketed as "healthy" are ultra-processed foods (UPFs) with hidden additives and low nutritional value. Yuka helps reveal the truth behind food labelling.

 

Does Yuka Consider Pesticides in Its Ratings?

 

Yuka does not take pesticides into account when scoring food or skincare, as they are not listed on ingredient labels. The best way to avoid harmful pesticides in your products is to choose organic skincare, organic cosmetics, and organic food whenever possible.

 

Can You Trust Yuka’s Ratings?

 

While Yuka provides an ingredient-based analysis, it does not factor in the actual quantity of a potentially harmful ingredient within a product. This means that even if only a trace amount of a "hazardous" ingredient is present, the app may still give the product a poor rating.

 

Originally launched in France in 2017, Yuka was designed to help consumers make healthier choices. Since then, it has expanded to the UK, US, Canada, and 12 other countries, gaining over 55 million users. That’s more than Deliveroo! The app continues to grow in popularity, proving that consumers worldwide want greater transparency when it comes to the ingredients in their skincare, beauty, and food products.

 

As awareness around clean beauty, non-toxic skincare, and healthy food choices grows, apps like Yuka are empowering people to take control of what they put on their skin and into their bodies.