Vegetarian Scanner iPhone App Determines If Products Are Veg-Friendly

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by Daelyn Fortney April 9, 2010
Categories: Lifestyle.
Photo: vegetarianscanner.com

Thanks to Mello Apps Limited, vegetarians can use their iPhone to determine if the ingredients listed on food labels are veggie-friendly.

After taking a picture with the iPhone 3GS, the innovative Vegetarian Scanner app will use the Scan feature to cross-reference the ingredients against a database of additives—immediately detecting if the additives are animal-free.

For those lacking the 3GS camera, such as iPod Touch, iPhone 2G or 3G, or iPad users, you’re not out of luck. A Search & Browse function on the Vegetarian Scanner allows users to peruse through a database of food additives.

Vegetarian Scanner 1.0 sells for $1.99 and is available exclusively in the Health & Fitness category of the App Store.

[UPDATE: We found this disclaimer regarding the app that might make it less than useful for US buyers. "Vegetarian Scanner will only scan food additives with E-numbers available in our database. E-numbers are found mostly on labels within the European Union, Australia and New Zealand. For countries outside the European Union, Vegetarian Scanner will only scan imported European products."]

Watch the video below the fold!

  • georgina0912

    Darn…if i only had an iphone. Why…WHY did i have to get a Blackberry?!?!?!?!?

    • http://www.veganjapan.net herwin

      maybe because Obama had one and you just followed the hype… :-P
      just kidding. ;-)

      • georgina0912

        I had no idea he has one too so no and i do not even like him, that is not why.

  • Pete

    I’d really like to see this for the Android Market. I’d buy it!

  • Jennifer

    PLEASE DON’T BUY THIS IF YOU ARE IN THE US. THE APP USES “E-NUMBERS” TO IDENTIFY INGREDIENTS, AND WE DONT USE THOSE HERE. JUST PAID $2, AND THE APP IS USELESS.!!!!

    • Steph

      thanks for posting this. i got super excited and was going to buy it ASAP.

      why on earth do they make it so difficult for Americans :(

      • http://www.veganjapan.net herwin

        hey, i got some cooking books from you guys over there and its full with Fahrenheit and not a word about Celsius !!

  • ash

    thats amazing!

  • http://www.veganjapan.net herwin

    vegetarians can use it to check if ingredients are “veggie friendly” (whatever that means..) and you can detect if additives are “animal free” (which in contrary to the above “veggie friendly” is a very clear term).

    so in fact its not as much a vegetarian scanner but more accurate a vegan scanner, right ?

  • Rob

    Some ingredients can be of either animal or plant origin (the only way to know for sure is to ask the producers) – if you want a list of vegan products available in the UK, check the Animal Free Shopper website: http://www.animalfreeshopper.com/

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