With dieting apps’ recent popularity, an app called Yuka has been making rounds on social media, determining the quality of food with a simple scan.

Last summer, the app grew in popularity after Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly used and endorsed the app.

“I haven’t used any similar apps,” English teacher Kimberly Bedinger said. “But what makes this one stand out is that it is not ad supported. It is science and research-backed.”

Dieting apps have mixed opinions from the public.

“In my personal opinion, ranking food on calories alone is a quick way to develop a toxic relationship with food,” senior Lily Stewart said. “Which, combined with social media’s influence, can wreck someone’s body image.”

The Yuka app differs from this idea of just counting calories. To use the app, they simply scan the bar code on any food product, and once they scan it, they get a numerical score out of 100. The way the item is scored based on the amount of harmful ingredients in the food, like additives or preservatives. If the food being scored has a bad nutritional value, it gives people better, healthier alternatives.

“Unfortunately a lot of apps are probably proponents of the toxic dieting culture present in the world today, they are more focused on making people feel bad about themselves or their body, instead of providing healthy dieting information.” Lily said.