Fooducate App Revisited

A few months ago, I mentioned finding an app called Fooducate. At the time, it was only out for iPhone, so I couldn't review it. Well, since then, it has been released for Android, so needless to say, I had to have it.

First, let me start off by saying that it turned out to be the most expensive app I've ever owned...despite the fact that it's free. When I went to download it for my phone, it needed an updated version of Android to run. Fine, I'll just update my phone. Nope, not that easy. The instructions to update Android on an AT&T phone are worse than reprogramming your VCR. I'm pretty computer savvy, but I sitll couldn't believe it would be so complex. However, I forged on and followed the directions, downloading the extra programs I needed for my Samsung phone and jumping through the hoops. But...disaster struck. The install process kept locking up. I tried about a dozen times, but it would never get past 70%. So I opted to do an emergency recovery of my previous version...same result. So, upgrading Android turned my phone into a brick. Fine, I head to the AT&T store to see if they can either restore it or get me a new phone. I get half a dozen answers from each salesperson (including implications that I was trying to hack my phone even though the upgrade was an AT&T authorized one)...and even the manager didn't seem to know what to do. In the end, they told me I had to call customer service and ask them to send me a new phone. By this time, I was pretty frustrated with AT&T, so I went to Verizon, cancelled my AT&T contract, got a new phone (with the correct version of Android already loaded in), and a new contract. So...two days later and about $400 poorer (for the phone and the Early Termination fee from AT&T), I can finally download this app.

And...after all that trouble, I'm fairly disappointed. I tend to try and shop as all-natural and healthy as possible. Earthfare is my friend because they don't sell anything with the major culprits in them (HFCS, artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, and so on). So I figured that most of what I already have should be rated pretty highly. Nope. It didn't disappoint me so much that some foods got less than stellar ratings, but that when compared to foods containing artificial ingredients, the foods with the bad stuff actually rated higher! What?!

Here's an example (wording is taken directly from the app):
Pasta Roni Garlic & Olive Oil Vermicelli
Contains Trans-Fats                                               
Contains Artificial Colors                                        
Salty! Has over 35% of daily max of sodium           
Made with refined flours, not whole grain
Contains MSG
Score: B+ 
vs.
Annie's All-Natural Shells & Real Aged Cheddar
Salty! Has over 20% of the daily max of sodium
For dieters: FoodPoints value is 7
A naturally good source of vitamin A and calcium
Score: C-
What?!? How does a boxed pasta loaded with so many bad things get a higher score than one that only has a slightly high sodium level? It makes no sense!

And another one:
Kashi Island Vanilla Cereal              
2.5 tsp of sugar per serving                          
For dieters: FoodPoints value is 5                 
Natural/artificial flavors added
Score: B                             
vs.  Fiber One Cereal
Contains contraversial artificial sweeteners
For dieters: FoodPoints value is 2
Less than 1.5 tsp of sugar. Nice
VERY high fiber 40% DV. Proceed slowly.
A top product in its category
Score: A-
Okay, so this was a close one, mainy determined, it seems, by sugar content and the fact that Fiber One is high fiber. However, anyone who is trying to eat a healthy diet should stay far away from artificial sweeteners. I'm also not pleased that Fooducate doesn't seem to distinguish between artificial and natural flavorings. This is a BIG difference to me.

One more..this one will kill you:
Nature's Path Frosted Wildberry Acai Toaster Pastries
4.5 tsp of sugar per serving
For dieters: FoodPoints value is 6
More refined flour than whole grains
Learn about citric acid                                                                                                      
Score: D+                                          
vs.
Pop-Tarts Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon Toaster Pastries
Look out! Not 100% whole grain!
For dieters: FoodPoints value is 6
Contraversial additive TBHQ in here
Heavily processed product
Contains fully hydrogenated oils
Score: C+
Okay...so a product containing potentially-dangerous preservatives and hydrogenated oils (a.k.a. trans fats) gets a higher score than an all-natural product. And the wording is interesting too concerning the whole grains...note how they pretty much say the same thing in different ways. They're both not 100% whole grain, but the wording is different.

Overall, this has the potential to be a decent app, but you have to take their scores with a HUGE grain of salt and pretty much ignore the grades in favor of reading the lists of good and bad in each product. The illogical scoring also makes the "Alternatives" feature iffy at best since it is based on scores.