Your food app knows what you eat – shouldn’t you know what it knows?

Date: 2025-03-11
Author: Giacomo Sini

Millions of Europeans use health food habit apps. How can you ensure the data you share is fairly treated?

Here comes the seven Digital Responsibility Goals (DRGs), principles designed to simplify digital lives.

Examples speak louder than words.
Digital literacy examples

Bad example

Research conducted by German researchers revealed that a major challenge for nutrition apps is related to usability issues. Users have pointed out problems with complex interfaces, the app’s overall navigation, and the food tracking tools.

What’s the matter?

Users have pointed out problems with complex interfaces, the app’s overall navigation, and the food tracking tools.

Impact

Users often abandon the app before completing setup, or make uninformed decisions about their health journey.

Good example

Open Food Facts is a free, open-source food database with detailed information about food products from around the world.

Why is it relevant?

The platform exemplifies digital literacy by making nutritional information accessible to everyone, regardless of their technical expertise.

Its scanning interface, combined with a nutritional labelling system like Nutri-Score, helps users understand complex food information without requiring advanced digital skills.

Impact

With a database of over 2 million products, the platform shows how digital tools can be both powerful and accessible.
Cybersecurity examples

Bad example

In 2018, the MyFitnessPal nutrition app suffered a major data breach impacting 150 million users.

What’s the matter?

The incident was linked to flaws in the app’s security protocols, specifically the reliance on the obsolete SHA-1 hashing algorithm for safeguarding passwords, which had recognized weaknesses.

Impact

Since nutrition apps gather personal health and genetic data, such information, if compromised, could result in identity theft, discrimination, and unlawful usage of data.

Good example

Take9 is a cybersecurity awareness initiative that encourages users to take 9 seconds to think before clicking, downloading, or sharing anything online!

Why is it relevant?

Its strength lies in addressing the human aspect of digital security through a “9-second pause” rule, which is particularly relevant for food apps where users often make quick decisions about sharing personal data, payment information, and location details.

Impact

The initiative might prevent phishing attempts, malware downloads, and data breaches by giving users a simple tool to evaluate their actions before proceeding.

Privacy examples

Bad example

Typically, when users install and subscribe to cooking apps, these applications gather and sell personal data, including behavioral information, search history, and details about your device.

What’s the matter?

This precious information is sold to third-party advertisers, raising privacy concerns and enabling targeted ads, potential data misuse, and broader digital surveillance.

Impact

Violation of privacy.

Good example

FOODNOMS is a privacy-focused nutrition tracking app that stores all user data locally through iCloud integration, ensuring user data remains under their control.

Why is it relevant?

The app minimises data collection and keeping user data strictly under user control.

By using Apple’s Sign in with iCloud and storing data locally, FoodNOMS ensures that sensitive nutrition and health data remains private.

Impact

Their privacy-first approach attracts privacy-conscious users.

Data fairness examples

Bad example

What’s the matter?

Supermarkets’ loyalty apps and cards create unfair data collection practices, with consumers (frequently) unaware they exchange personal shopping data for small discounts.

Impact

Companies gain considerable profits by selling this information to advertisers and data brokers.

Good example

Catima is an Open-Source privacy friendly loyalty card and ticket manager that stores all your loyalty cards on your phone – with no ads and no tracking.

Why is it relevant?

The most well-known similar app would be Stocard, but unlike Stocard, Catima doesn’t track or sell your data. In fact, it doesn’t even connect to the internet.

Impact

Gives users the choice to manage many different store cards and tickets purchased from multiple service providers without giving data brokers access to an even more detailed. profile of your shopping behaviour tracked across multiple retailers.
Trustworthy algorithms’ examples

Bad example

A study on nutrition apps found major significant inconsistencies in both manual meal tracking and AI-powered food photo analysis.

What’s the matter?

Some meal tracking apps overestimated calories for Western diets and underestimated calories for Asian diets. Moreover, AI struggled to recognize mixed and diversified foods, resulting in significant mistakes.

Impact

The results indicate that algorithmic systems in consumer applications may be significantly biased and imprecise, potentially providing misleading nutrition advice.

Good example

Tandoor was developed by cooking lovers to digitize and distribute their cookbooks and recipes.

Why is it relevant?

The platform respects human agency by avoiding psychological manipulation and automated decisions.

Their approach to features and functionality gives consumers control, while their offline capabilities ensure users are not reliant on continual internet. The platform’s community-driven development assures that user requirements, not commercial interests, guide development.

Impact

Tandoor has shown how food tech can support user autonomy while providing valuable functionality. Their community-focused approach has created a more ethical model for food tech development.
Transparency examples

Bad example

Several well-known recipe websites are managed by major publishing companies or food brands.

What’s the matter?

These connections are often kept hidden from users. Certain components may be subtly promoted inside recipes as a result of advertising partnerships, and sponsored products may appear first in search results.

Impact

While these platforms appear to offer neutral cooking advice, their content can be shaped by commercial interests, influencing consumer choices in ways that are not always transparent.

Good example

RecipeSage is a free and open source personal recipe keeper, meal planner, and shopping list organiser.

Why is it relevant?

The platform shows transparency through its open-source code, clear ownership structure, and community-driven development model. Their rejection of hidden advertisements and sponsored content shows how recipe platforms can operate without hidden commercial influences.

Impact

RecipeSage has built a trustworthy platform for recipe sharing and meal planning, while also influencing industry transparency norms.
Human agency examples

Bad example

Health and nutrition apps risk have the potential of compromising autonomy due to manipulative design and algorithmic dependency.

What’s the matter?

Deceptive subscription models obscure user autonomy, while intense monitoring systems can intensify disordered behaviors and anxiety regarding food selections. Some platforms encourage reliance by promoting participation over well-being, delegating decision-making to algorithms.

Good example

Too Good To Go is a mobile app that connects people with local restaurants, bakeries, and retailers to buy surplus food at discounted costs, thereby reducing food waste and making great food more accessible.

Why is it relevant?

The app handles both merchant and consumer data in a transparent approach. It processes information about food availability, pricing, and user preferences in a way that creates fair outcomes for all parties involved.

Unlike many food apps that use data primarily for profit maximization, Too Good To Go uses data processing to optimize food waste reduction and fair distribution.

Impact

The app’s data processing has saved millions of meals from being wasted, while also guaranteeing that the platform benefits both businesses and consumers equally.

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