Yuka app like Nutriscore: 'penalises Italia's agri-food industry'

The Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, while acknowledging that the algorithm behind Yuka is 'completely wrong', nevertheless considers the app less dangerous than Nutriscore. 'By all means,' he added, 'we are working on something else. To labelling that is informative because Italia is not afraid of information, on the contrary, the more consumers are informed, the more our products are advantaged'. But concern among companies remains high. "In fact, commented the president of Federalimentare, Paolo Mascarino, 'with Yuka, Nutriscore has entered Italia and is conditioning consumer choices with misleading, absolutist information that has no solid scientific basis.

Among the first to realise the potential dangers associated with Yuka was Confagricoltura, which lodged a complaint with the antitrust authority as early as 2022. In the course of the proceedings, the authority found criticism of the absolute and simplistic nature of the judgements made by Yuka, and of the lack of clarity of the evaluation method, which was never approved by any health authority. The proceedings were closed after Yuka undertook to modify the app, so as to avoid alarmist tones and absolutist judgements that do not take into account the consumer's lifestyle and dietary needs. 'It would be interesting,' Mascarino concludes, 'to re-evaluate today whether Yuka has lived up to these commitments. It seems to us that the tones are still alarmist and above all the judgments continue to be misleading because they are made in the absence of clear and verifiable scientific references'.

We publish the company's corrigendum.

"In the article The Yuka app like the Nutriscore: 'penalises Italian agri-foodstuffs' published on 17 March 2026 in Il Sole 24 Ore, it is falsely claimed that the Yuka app spreads information 'without a solid scientific basis' and that, despite the commitments made before the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) in 2022, its 'judgments continue to be misleading because they are made in the absence of clear and verifiable scientific references."

These claims are false, as Yuka's assessment is based, for the nutritional part, on the Nutri-Score, which is the subject of more than 150 scientific publications confirming the validity of the algorithm and its benefits in improving consumer health. The additive part of the assessment is also based on numerous scientific reference studies, analysed by our scientific team and quoted directly in the app, and highlights potential negative effects of additives authorised on the European market.

It is also inaccurate to imply that Yuka does not respect the commitments it made before the AGCM in 2022, when these commitments have been and continue to be scrupulously respected. All scientific references on which Yuka's assessment is based are clearly identifiable and verifiable, in full transparency.

These statements, which suggest a lack of scientific basis, seriously call into question the credibility of the application, despite the fact that our aim is precisely to make existing scientific data accessible to consumers.

Louise Dacarsine

Legal officer Yuka

The author's reply

Yuka confirms that it uses the Nutriscore system, which has been strongly contested by Italia and other EU partners, has not been validated by any supranational EU authority, and has been excluded by the Commission as a reference for future European nutrition labelling.

G. d. O.