Tech-powered nutrition: Aldi Australia utilizes barcode scanning to distinguish healthier product options

05 Feb 2020 --- Technology that aids consumers in making healthy choices continues to expand, with smart nutrition bottle marker LifeFuels and Aldi Australia being among the latest companies to harness the power of digital nutrition. In Aldi’s case, the grocery chain has unveiled the Healthy Picks smartphone app, which conveys the nutritional profile of products to shoppers using barcode scanning.

Clare Farrand, Public Health Nutritionist at The George Institute – an Australian medical research institute partnering with Aldi on the chain’s app launch – notes that while it is easy to distinguish healthier fresh products from processed food, selecting the best options among packaged products is not always as easy. To meet this end, Healthy Picks briefs consumers on the energy, saturated fat, sugar and sodium levels contained by a product.

“We have developed the Healthy Picks app for Aldi to support their shoppers to make more informed choices. The app displays nutrition information for every packaged food and drink product as either a Health Star Rating or Traffic Light Label, to give simple, easy to understand information about the healthiness of each product. From there shoppers can decide if they want to buy it, or switch to an alternative,” she explains.

If an Aldi shopper were to select an alternative option for their trolley, the app will recommend a product in the same or similar category that could be considered a healthier option based on its Health Star Rating. If the consumer is looking to cut down on either sugar, salt or fat – or a combination of these – the app’s Traffic Light Label will notify the user of options with less or more of what they are looking out for. This allows users to make an informed decision about what to buy. For shoppers seeking vegetarian alternatives, the app uses a green sidebar to indicate which products are suitable.

The launch of the app comes in light of Aldi’s expanding range of health foods, with plans for new products in the grocer’s Oh So Natural range and healthier snack options for kids to be introduced in the coming months.

LifeFuels’ automated smart nutrition bottle is designed to “adapt to the rest of your day.” LifeFuels smart beverages
Also in the dynamic space of digital nutrition, LifeFuels, the creator behind what is marketed as the world’s first “smart nutrition bottle that adapts to the rest of your day,” has recently launched a new subscription service that enables the option of automatic renewal of the system’s flavored FuelPods, and the ability to modify or cancel service anytime, further fueling convenience and personalization.

“Customers consistently tell us two things: one, they use our bottle and LifeFuels App to track their daily hydration intake; and two, they optimize what they drink to experience functional benefits and personalized taste. Our new subscription model will help people receive a steady supply of FuelPods more conveniently, and provide options that fit each person's lifestyle, taste, and needs, powering personalized hydration every day,” says LifeFuels CEO and Co-Founder Jonathon Perrelli.

The LifeFuels smart bottle is engineered to turn ordinary water into a beverage packed with flavor, vitamins and nutrients. In addition, the automated system pairs with a smartphone app that helps consumers set, visualize, and track their hydration and nutrition goals, in addition to adjusting the flavor and intensity of their drink.

FuelPods are are available in a variety of sweetened or unsweetened flavors (including peach, blackberry acai, lemon-lime, unsweetened cranberry-raspberry, unsweetened blackberry-lime and more) and paired with functional ingredients (such as electrolytes, antioxidants and natural energy). Via the app, FuelPods can be mixed in multiple ways to provide a flavor and nutrient-packed personalized beverage.

Tech-powered nutritional solutions
Personalized nutrition saw a boom in the previous year, with a growing consensus that previous one-size-fits-all health solutions no longer apply to modern consumers. This trend is bound for technological growth this year and beyond, as recently evidenced by a wealth of novel devices and strategic partnerships between tech-savvy start-ups and larger companies.

Earlier this week, personalized nutrition platform Kaigo announced a US$3 million round of seed funding to be channeled toward the company’s proprietary and patent-pending tailored nutrition technology. The move boosts the company’s nutrition platform that includes a dietitian-guided nutrition program, daily food delivery service and on-demand concierge support.

Last month, US-based personalized nutrition company Baze received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its at-home blood collection process, which allows customers to assess their blood nutrient status. The company then analyzes the blood samples to offer nutrition plans and supplement subscriptions specific to individual needs and deficiencies.

Other examples of innovations emerging in this space ingestible gas-sensing capsule technology which monitors key gases produced within the gut in real-time, as well as a wearable digital device which “nudges” shoppers to make healthy choices based on their own DNA.

By Benjamin Ferrer