Friday, June 2, 2023

New consumer transparency app helps avoid unsustainable products

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HEALabel has released an app to that helps consumers choose products that aren’t bad for health, animals, the environment or labourers.

Ingredient transparency guide HEALabel has launched a new app to help consumers avoid products bad for their health, animals, environment and labourers.

The app shows the impact of different food ingredients and clothing materials on these four factors. It displays snapshots with green, yellow and red circles to indicate an item’s positive, moderate or negative impact.

For example, avocados have green indicators on animal and human health, but yellow indicators when it comes to planetary health and labour treatment. There is a list of categories that explains each item’s status, which includes the food type, whether it’s vegan, gluten-free or allergen-free, its pH level, its water and carbon footprint, if it’s sustainable and why, its health advantages, where it’s from, whether it involves fair flavour, and what seasons it’s grown in. The app shows further details about each category in a Read More pop-up.

Food, clothing, cosmetics, personal care and household brands that conscious consumers are interested in are also searchable within the app’s glossary. You can see if brands are vegan or cruelty-free, or whether their parent organisations use problematic ingredients. HEALabel enables you to take action by pressing a button and voicing your concern to the brand via email or phone.

Adriane Marie, HEALabel’s founder, explained that the idea behind the app came from being “a frustrated shopper”, wanting to make better choices for herself, animals and the planet, but not knowing the true implications of what she was buying. “I’d be at the store and had questions about products but standing in an aisle Googling answers was time-consuming. I was surprised and disappointed to discover there actually wasn’t an app for that,” she said.

Marie added: “Consumers are the ones that ultimately raise industry standards, and this app gives you that power. You should never settle on buying anything that is misleading or compromises your ethics. Every time you spend money, you vote on what you wish to see more of in the world. Now, you can be absolutely sure it’s something you fully support.”

Read our guide for more vegan-friendly apps.

Anay Mridul
Anay is journalism graduate from City, University of London, he was a barista for three years, and never shuts up about coffee. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford Comma. Originally from India, he went vegan in 2020, after attempting (and failing) Veganuary. He believes being environmentally conscious is a basic responsibility, and veganism is the best thing you can do to battle climate change. He gets lost at Whole Foods sometimes.