New vegan ingredient finder app does all the work for you

A Kiwi-made app will allow vegans to find out exactly what is in packaged food products.

‘Is It Vegan?’ is the new iPhone app that scans ingredient lists and tells you if what you are eating is really vegan, including those ingredient numbers that are difficult to remember.

The app’s point of difference compared to the others on the market is that you don’t scan the barcode, you scan the ingredients list so users can actually understand what the non-vegan ingredients are.

The whole purpose is to make vegan’s lives easier and make shopping simpler.

App creator Juan Reyes Vera says a barcode scanning app only works if the product exists in the data base.

“Vegan scanner app uses the text captured in the photo to check if the product is vegan or not.

“It doesn’t matter which product is, all that matters is that the ingredients description is on a supported language and that the photo is of decent quality,” he says.

Grace Ellis, who has been vegan for two years, hasn’t used an app like this before and says she would happily pay the dollar for peace of mind.

“I would be keen to use it because I spend a lot more time in the supermarket than a regular person because I always have to google the numbers,” she says.

Mia Scott-Petersen says she would like something similar for those who are gluten free.

“I choose a gluten free lifestyle but I find it very difficult to determine what products are actually gluten free.”

She says much like vegan food, some food items are simply not what they say they are.