NHS Food Scanner App to improve children’s diet

The government's New Better Health campaign includes a new NHS Food Scanner App, launched to help parents improve their children's diet.

The multimedia Better Health campaign has been launched to encourage families to eat better and includes a new ‘scan, swipe and swap’ feature for the NHS Food Scanner App, which provides a simple solution to help families maintain a healthier diet.

Families can scan the product barcodes from their shop and the app will suggest healthier alternatives to help them make an easy swap next time they shop.

This follows a record rise in obesity amongst children since the start of the pandemic, with latest data highlighting that one in four children of reception school age are overweight or obese; this rises to four in 10 in Year 6.

A new survey conducted with Netmums showed that 58 per cent parents give their children more sugary or fatty snacks than before the pandemic and 64 per cent of parents said they often worry about how healthy their children’s snacks really are.

Public Health Minister Maggie Throup said: “We know that families have felt a lot of pressure throughout the pandemic which has drastically changed habits and routines. The new year is a good time for making resolutions, not just for ourselves, but for our families. Finding ways to improve their health is one of the best resolutions any of us could make. By downloading the free NHS Food Scanner App, families can swap out foods from the weekly shop for healthier alternatives and avoid items high in salt, sugar and saturated fat.”