Grocery chainKrogerhas launched a free app aimed at helping customers know more about what they're putting in their cart. It's calledOptUP,Supermarket Newsreportedon Tuesday, and it gives each grocery item a score based on how healthy it is.
According toSupermarket News, OptUP works like this: When you scan a product with the app, it gets a score out of 100. The healthier the product, the higher the score, with items separated into green (71 or higher), yellow (36 to 70), and red (35 or below) categories. The scoring system is based on the product's nutritional/health value, which Kroger determines from a combination of "nationally recognized dietary guidelines" and information provided by its own dietitians. This means that variables like how much saturated fat, sodium, sugar, calories, fiber, and protein would all go toward determining the item's score.
Groceriesaren't the only things getting a score from OptUP.Supermarket Newsreported that the app will also assign a total score of up to 1,000 to customers' purchasing histories over a period of eight weeks. According to the outlet, Kroger's dietitians recommend filling at least half of your cart with "green" items and getting a total score of 600 or more.
OptUP joins several existing apps that scan items to give you more information about their nutritional value. As万博官网previously reported,BagIQscans both receipts and barcodes of grocery items to assign products a "score" based on nutrition labels. Meanwhile,DietSensor, according toMental Floss, uses a spectrometer to scanthe food itselfusing infrared light.
