How we score products

Last updated September 21, 2026 · By the Foodmetria editorial team · how we work

We don't invent a proprietary health score. We present well-documented public systems side by side, explain what each one measures, and show the underlying numbers.

Nutri-Score (A–E)

Full explainer: what the A–E grades mean, and what they miss.

Nutri-Score rates nutritional quality per 100 g or 100 ml. It weighs energy, sugars, saturated fat and salt against fibre, protein and fruit, vegetable and legume content. A is the most favourable grade, E the least. We display the grade computed by Open Food Facts using the current algorithm. When key data is missing, no grade is shown.

NOVA processing groups (1–4)

Full explainer: ultra-processed food and the NOVA groups.

NOVA classifies foods by the extent of industrial processing: 1 — unprocessed or minimally processed, 2 — processed culinary ingredients, 3 — processed foods, 4 — ultra-processed foods. The group is derived from the ingredient list.

Nutrient levels

Fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt are labelled low, moderate or high using UK front-of-pack reference thresholds per 100 g (e.g. sugars: low ≤ 5 g, high > 22.5 g). Thresholds for drinks are halved.

% Daily Value

When a serving size is known we calculate nutrients per serving and % Daily Value using FDA reference amounts for a 2,000-calorie diet (e.g. saturated fat 20 g, added sugars 50 g, fiber 28 g, protein 50 g).

On every product page you can also set your own portion — the serving on the pack, 100 g, or any amount you weigh out — and switch the daily reference between 2,000 and 2,500 calories. Values and % Daily Value are recalculated in your browser from the per-100 g figures; the reference amounts are scaled proportionally to the calorie basis you pick. Your choice is remembered on your device and carries over to the next product you open.

Category comparison

Each product is compared with the published products in its most specific category: we show the category average for every nutrient and the share of products that contain less. Comparisons appear only when the category has enough products.

Personal “Fits me” check

You can tell Foodmetria what you avoid — allergens, diets such as vegan or gluten-free, or a limit on sugar or salt — and every product page and product card will show whether it fits. Nothing is invented for this check: it reuses the allergen, trace and ingredient-analysis data described above.

There are four possible answers, and the difference between them matters:

• Fits you — the ingredient list is known and nothing in it conflicts with your settings.
• Check — the product may conflict. This is what “may contain traces of nuts” on a label becomes, and it also covers ingredients whose origin is unclear, such as gelatine or a “maybe vegan” analysis.
• Doesn't fit — the label data lists something you avoid, or a nutrient is above the limit you set.
• Not enough data — we don't know the ingredients, so we say nothing. An empty allergen field is not the same as an allergen-free product, and we never treat it as one.

Allergens are matched by Open Food Facts tags rather than by words in the ingredient text, so a product labelled in another language is still recognized. Pork is the exception: Open Food Facts has no tag for it, so we look for pork ingredients in the ingredient text ourselves. That text is written in the language of the package, so we deliberately err on the side of caution — gelatine, animal fat and similar ingredients are reported as “may contain” rather than as a definite answer.

Sugar and salt limits are compared per 100 g, or per 100 ml for drinks — the same basis as the nutrient levels above.

Your settings never leave your browser. They are stored on your device, are not sent to our servers, are not tied to any account and set no cookie. The check itself runs inside your browser. “Clear all” in the panel removes them, as does clearing your browsing data.

This is not a safety check. Product data is contributed by the Open Food Facts community and can be incomplete or out of date, and manufacturers change recipes without notice. If you have an allergy or intolerance, read the packaging every time — a green “Fits you” is a convenience, not a guarantee.

Additives

Additives are identified from the ingredient list. Where the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has flagged a risk of overexposure for some population groups, we show it next to the additive.

Our additive guides summarize what regulators (FDA, EFSA, JECFA/WHO, IARC) have concluded, with links to the original sources. The concern level on each guide reflects those assessments and current regulatory status — not our own safety testing: low — permitted in the US and EU with no significant open safety questions; moderate — permitted, but with warning labels, an intake-related caution for some groups, or active regulatory review; high — banned or being phased out in major markets, or classified as a probable hazard by an authoritative body. Each guide shows its sources and the date it was last reviewed.

Rankings (“Best” lists)

Lists such as “Best Low-Sugar Yogurts” rank every published product in a category that has a photo and the needed nutrition values. We sort by the headline metric per 100 g (for example sugar or protein) and break ties by Nutri-Score and by how often shoppers scan the product. A list is published only when a category has at least eight qualifying products. Rankings are recalculated every day.

Head-to-head comparisons

Comparison pages put two popular products from the same category side by side. A product “wins” a nutrient only when the difference is meaningful (at least 10% and above a small absolute threshold). Nutri-Score counts double and NOVA group counts once toward the overall verdict.

User reviews

Reviews are written by visitors and describe taste, texture and value. Every review is checked by a moderator before it appears; we remove spam, advertising and reviews that are not based on personal experience. We never pay for reviews and do not accept payment from brands to publish, remove or reorder them. Star ratings are the average of all approved reviews.

Prices

Prices come from Open Prices, where shoppers upload receipts and price tags. They show what people actually paid in a specific store on a specific date and may differ from current prices. Foodmetria does not sell products.

Label change history

When a product's ingredients, nutrition values or scores change in the source data, we record the old and new values and show them on the product page.

Data completeness and publishing

Every product gets a completeness score from 0 to 100 based on ten key fields (name, brand, category, Nutri-Score, NOVA group, Green-Score, photo, sugars, protein and ingredients). Only products above our completeness threshold are published and indexed; the rest are kept until the data improves.

How these pages are researched, reviewed and corrected: our editorial standards.