Last updated on 28-6-2024 by Thérésa Lebacq
Why do we study the use of apps when buying food products?
- Scanning mobile apps provides consumers with information on the ingredient list of the products (food and cosmetics), according to criteria like nutritional content, health concerns, production method, carbon footprint, or other social and ethical considerations. This is used to help people make decisions when buying products.
- The use of such mobile apps in the area of food purchasing deserves to be studied to assess the extent to which they are used by the general population and the different population subgroups. It is also used to study whether the use of such apps is associated with the consumption of healthier food products.
How do we do it?
- The frequency of use of mobile apps was investigated by asking the adult participants aged 18 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children): ‘Do you use mobile applications (such as Yuka, Kwalito, Scan eat) to help you decide which food products to buy?’.
- The respondents could select one answer among the following: ‘never’, ‘rarely’, ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, ‘always’. For the sake of interpretation, the categories ‘rarely’ and ‘sometimes’ were grouped, as well as the categories ‘often’ and ‘always’.
- Individuals who answered that they use such apps were asked to select the apps that they use: Yuka, Open Food Facts, Kwalito, Scan Eat, Shop Well, Smart With Food, or others, with an open field to specify which other apps.
Key results
In 2022-2023, 91% of the Belgian adult population never use mobile apps to help them decide which food products to buy.
Higher proportions of women than men use mobile apps to decide which food products to buy.
The proportion of individuals using mobile apps to decide which food products to buy is higher among those with a higher education level.
The use of mobile apps when buying food products is more frequently reported in Brussels than in the two other regions.
Frequency of mobile apps use to help decide which food products to buy
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 18 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of use of mobile apps to decide which food products to buy, by sex, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
- A higher proportion of men (92%) than women (90%) never use mobile apps to decide which food products to buy.
- Five percent of men rarely or sometimes use apps to decide which food products to buy, and 2% use them often or always.
- Among women, 7% rarely or sometimes use apps to decide which food products to buy, and 3% use them often or always.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 18 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of use of mobile apps to decide which food products to buy, by education level, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondents or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.
- The proportion of adults never using mobile apps to decide which food products to buy is higher among persons with a low education level (93%), compared to persons having a mid (88%) or high (89%) education level.
- In parallel, the proportion of adults that rarely or sometimes use mobile apps is higher among persons with a mid or high education level (9% and 8%), compared to those with a low education level (4%).
- Finally, the proportion of adults that often or always use mobile apps do not differ according to the education level: this proportion is at about 3% whatever the education level.
Distribution of the Belgian population aged 18 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children) according to the frequency of use of mobile apps to decide which food products to buy, by region, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- Brussels stands out from the other regions for this topic. Indeed, the proportions of individuals that rarely to sometimes and often to always use mobile apps to decide which food products to buy are higher in Brussels than in the two other regions.
- In addition, the use of such mobile apps is more frequent in Wallonia than in Flanders. Indeed, 8% of the adults living in Wallonia rarely or sometimes use mobile apps when buying food products and 4% use them often or always, compared to respectively 4% and 2% in Flanders.
Type of mobile apps used to help decide which food products to buy
Proportion of the Belgian population aged 18 years and above (including the parents of 3 to 9 year old children) using different apps, among individuals that indicated using mobile apps to help them decide which food products to buy, Belgium: 2022-2023
- Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.
- Among individuals who indicated using mobile apps to help them decide which food products to buy, 76% use the app Yuka, and 21% use other apps than those suggested (e.g. apps supplied by supermarkets, apps for the identification of halal products, etc.).
- Less than 5% of the individuals that indicated using mobile apps when buying food products use the other apps suggested in the questionnaires.
Please cite this page as: Sciensano. Determinants of food choice: Use of Apps, Food Consumption Survey 2022-2023, June 2024, Brussels, Belgium, https://www.sciensano.be/en/results-food-consumption-survey-2022-2023/determinants-food-choice/use-apps-when-buying-food-products