Yuka vs Bobby Approved: How Each App Grades Food

Yuka and Bobby Approved both scan a barcode and return a verdict, but they grade food by different rules. Yuka publishes a 0-100 score weighted 60% nutrition, 30% additives and 10% organic, and a high-risk additive caps the score at 49/100. Bobby Approved returns a pass/fail stamp tied to 10 ingredient standards and a flagged list of over 100 ingredients, with no published numerical formula.

Key takeaways

• Yuka scores food 0-100 using 60% nutritional quality, 30% additives and 10% organic dimension.
• A high-risk additive caps a Yuka score at 49/100.
• Bobby Approved returns a pass/fail stamp tied to 10 ingredient standards and flags over 100 ingredients, with no published formula.
• Less than 10% of products at most grocery stores qualify for the Bobby Approved stamp, according to its website.
• Aurascan grades each ingredient instead of issuing one score.

Yuka vs Bobby Approved: Side-by-Side Overview

Yuka returns a 0-100 score built from published weights, while Bobby Approved returns a yes-or-no stamp built on 10 ingredient standards. The sections below quote what each app says about its own method rather than ranking them.

On their App Store listings, Yuka shows 102K ratings at 4.8 and an Editors' Choice badge, while Bobby Approved shows 165K ratings at 4.9. Both are listed as free, and Yuka also lists in-app purchases. Store ratings reflect how users rate the app, not whether its food grades are accurate.

Yuka describes itself as a 100% independent project with no in-app advertising, and says brands cannot pay to advertise on the app. Bobby Approved is developed by BA Global Holdings, LLC, and its listing describes it as an app that instantly shows whether a food product is good for your health. The listing also cites 12+ million people who follow Bobby under @flavcity.

How Does Yuka Score Food? The 60/30/10 Formula Explained

Yuka scores each food product out of 100 by combining three parts: nutritional quality (60%), presence of additives (30%) and the organic dimension (10%). Its Yuka scoring help article states these weights directly, and its homepage shows example ratings such as 'Bad - 21/100' and 'Poor - 35/100'.

Yuka translates Nutri-Scores into its own ratings through a correspondence table. Its app materials say each food product is evaluated on nutritional quality, presence of additives and organic aspect.

Additives are scored by risk level. Yuka says each additive is assigned one of four levels based on existing studies: risk-free (green dot), limited risk (yellow dot), moderate risk (orange dot) or high-risk (red dot). The individual studies behind each assignment are not named in the material cited here.

The cut-offs that map numbers to labels such as Bad or Poor sit in a separate correspondence table, and they were not disclosed in the sources used for this article.

How Does Bobby Approved Grade Food? The Stamp and Flagged-Ingredient List

Bobby Approved shows whether a product is Bobby Approved and highlights bad ingredients in red, and tapping one explains why. Its website says less than 10% of products found at most grocery stores qualify for the stamp of approval.

The website lists 10 commandments of Bobby Approved ingredients:

• Free of seed oils
• Free of refined or artificial sugars
• Free of harmful preservatives
• Free of GMOs
• Free of artificial or 'natural' flavors
• Free of harmful pesticide and chemicals
• Free of artificial food colorings
• Free of ultra processed ingredients
• Free of harmful toxins
• Free of harmful fragrances

The app says it has flagged over 100 ingredients in its database as potentially harmful, including natural and artificial flavors, fake sugars, food dyes, chemical additives, inflammatory seed oils and preservatives. The app states these flagged ingredients are backed by scientific studies. The full flagged list and the exact approval rule are not published, and there is no numerical formula, so a Bobby Approved result cannot be converted into a score. When a product is not Bobby Approved, the app offers healthy alternatives. Whether Bobby Approved uses any middle status between approved and not approved was not disclosed.

How Does Yuka's 49/100 Cap Compare With Bobby Approved's Pass/Fail Rule?

Yuka publishes a cap: when a high-risk additive is present, the maximum score for the product is set at 49/100. Bobby Approved's pass/fail rule has no published formula, so the two systems cannot be compared on strictness with a single measure.

The Yuka cap works as a ceiling on a numeric score, and 49/100 sits below the midpoint of the scale. The material cited here does not describe any further penalty beyond that ceiling, or how lower-risk additives change the result.

Bobby Approved's published output is a stamp: a product is Bobby Approved or it is not. Its listing says bad ingredients are highlighted in red, but the published material does not state whether one flagged ingredient alone removes the stamp, or how many flags are required. Bobby Approved's rule for removing the stamp is unpublished, so this article makes no claim that either system is stricter.

Do Yuka and Bobby Approved Use Independent Research to Back Their Ratings?

Both apps say their ratings draw on research, but the public material cited here does not name the individual studies behind each rating. Bobby Approved says its flagged ingredients are backed by scientific studies, and Yuka says each additive's risk level is based on various existing studies.

Yuka describes its review process, in its own self-described words, as objective, and says no brand or manufacturer can influence it. This article cites no outside audit of that claim. The app also lists a database of 4 million food products, while neither app's public listing names the product database it draws from.

The companies' own pages are the source for every method described here; this article does not rate how accurate any app's grade is for a specific product.

How Does Yuka's Organic Dimension Compare With Bobby Approved's Standards?

Yuka's organic dimension is 10% of its food score, and the method it uses to judge that dimension is not disclosed. Bobby Approved publishes no separate organic weighting and instead lists ingredient standards such as GMO-free and free of harmful pesticides and chemicals. The two apps do not measure 'organic' or ingredient quality in the same way.

Yuka's cited materials name the organic aspect as one of three criteria but do not explain how that dimension is judged. Bobby Approved's ten standards map onto Yuka's three criteria unevenly. The GMO and pesticide standards appear closest to the organic dimension, and the preservative standard overlaps with Yuka's additives criterion. Standards for seed oils, refined or artificial sugars, natural and artificial flavors, artificial food colorings, fragrances, toxins and ultra processed ingredients are not named among Yuka's three published criteria, so there is no one-to-one match.

Readers comparing the two can check the same label items:

• Seed oils in the ingredient list (a Bobby Approved standard)
• Sugar types, including refined or artificial sugars
• Preservative names (both apps address additives)
• Flavor terms such as natural flavors or artificial flavors
• Color names, including certified colors (see the FDA section below)
• Thickeners such as carrageenan, which is covered in Does Silk Almond Milk Have Carrageenan? Silk vs Almond Breeze

How Does Aurascan Differ From Yuka and Bobby Approved?

Aurascan grades each ingredient on a six-step scale, running from Beneficial through Neutral, Mild concern, Concern, Serious concern and Serious harm, rather than producing one score or stamp for the whole product.

According to its how-it-works page, Aurascan looks up each barcode across Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central and a barcode database. If none of those sources has the product, users can add it by photographing the label. Its homepage says it scans food, drinks, cosmetics, personal care and household products.

Each ingredient is researched against authoritative sources, and each claim carries its citations and evidence tier, ranging from Tier 1 (human clinical trials) to Tier 4 (mechanistic hypotheses). An ingredient at a high dose per serving is graded more cautiously, and Body Map links flagged ingredients to body systems.

The free plan includes 5 new products a day, free re-scans, complete ingredient explanations and scientific sources. The Plus plan adds side-by-side comparison of two products. For another example of label-level reasoning, see Creatine Gummies vs Powder: Do Gummies Have What the Label Says?.

Under "What we don't claim", Aurascan's how-it-works page lists a single score or letter grade ("It hides the reasoning") and a diagnosis, treatment or medical advice.

Side-by-Side Comparison Table: Yuka vs Bobby Approved vs Aurascan

The table places the published facts for each app in the same rows. 'Not disclosed' means the sources used for this article did not state the detail.

Feature	Yuka	Bobby Approved	Aurascan
Developer	Yuca	BA Global Holdings, LLC	Not disclosed
Output	0-100 score with colored additive dots	Pass/fail stamp with flagged ingredients in red	Six-step grade per ingredient, Beneficial to Serious harm
Weighting	60% nutrition, 30% additives, 10% organic	No published numerical formula	No single score or weighting
Additive or ingredient rule	Four risk levels; a high-risk additive caps the score at 49/100	Flagged list of over 100 ingredients; full list not published	Each ingredient graded; high dose per serving graded more cautiously
Evidence shown	Risk levels based on existing studies (individual studies not named)	Flagged ingredients said to be backed by studies	Citations and evidence tier for each claim
Product data	4 million food products (company figure)	Not disclosed	Open Food Facts, USDA FoodData Central, barcode database
Advertising or sponsors	Brands cannot pay to advertise; no in-app advertising	Not disclosed	Not disclosed
Alternatives	Recommends healthier alternatives	Healthy alternatives when not approved	Side-by-side comparison of two products
Pricing	Free, with in-app purchases	Free	Not listed here
App Store ratings	102K ratings, 4.8	165K ratings, 4.9	Not listed here

Blank or 'not disclosed' entries reflect gaps in public material, not a judgment about quality.

Are the Ratings From Yuka or Bobby Approved Regulated by Any Agency?

The ratings are each company's own method, not FDA ratings. What the FDA regulates is the label the apps read, and its rules decide how much a scanner can see.

The FDA's color additives Q&A says the label must list the names of any FDA-certified color additive, such as FD&C Blue No. 1 or Blue 1. Color additives exempt from certification, except carmine and cochineal extract, can be listed collectively as 'artificial colors,' 'artificial color added' or 'color added' without naming each one. Carmine and cochineal extract must be identified by name.

This matters for any scanner, including Yuka, Bobby Approved and Aurascan, because each can only grade what the label discloses. When a package says only 'color added,' an ingredient-based tool may not be able to show which individual colors are present.