NutriScan

Food analysis for your every day snacks.

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Inspiration

  • Family history of diabetes motivated focus on healthier eating
  • Personal experience struggling to understand ingredient labels on food packages
  • Wanted to create a tool that demystifies complex food additives and helps people make informed choices

What it does

  • Scans food barcodes using your camera
  • Retrieves product info via the Open Food Facts API
  • Highlights ingredients, color-codes nutrition facts (e.g. red for high sugar)
  • Flags potentially harmful additives based on FDA sources
  • Recommends similar products with fewer flagged ingredients

How I built it

  • Frontend built with React + Vite + TypeScript
  • Barcode scanning powered by Scanbot SDK
  • Product data fetched from the Open Food Facts API
  • Ingredient safety evaluated by cross-referencing multiple public health sources
  • UI designed for clarity, with dropdowns, color indicators, and clean product comparisons

Challenges I ran into

  • Decoding complex ingredient names and mapping them to safety data
  • Ensuring barcode scanning worked reliably
  • Filtering and ranking alternative products by healthiness
  • Making the UI both informative and user-friendly

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  • Successfully built a fully functional scanning tool from scratch
  • Integrated real-time product data and safety analysis
  • Designed a clean, educational interface that’s easy to use
  • Created a meaningful tool that directly supports healthier lifestyle choices

What I learned

  • Working with APIs and barcode scanning libraries in a real-world app
  • How to evaluate ingredient safety using food regulation sources
  • Importance of UX in communicating complex health info clearly
  • How to prioritize feature sets for clarity and impact under time constraints

What's next for NutriScan

  • Add user profiles to track dietary preferences and restrictions (e.g. vegan, diabetic)
  • Incorporate more detailed allergen warnings and environmental impact scores
  • Build a Chrome extension for quick product lookups while online shopping
  • Partner with local grocery stores or food brands to expand database accuracy
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