Scanning Aldi food
with NutraSafe: a quick guide.
Aldi shelves are almost entirely own-brand: Specially Selected at the top, Nature's Pick for fruit and veg, Mamia for babies, and a few dozen sub-brands in between. We read those barcodes and count the additives we recognise. On Pro we name each one in plain English and flag the ones with published evidence, with the source. How that compares with the other scanners on the App Store is set out in our best food scanner apps UK roundup.
Point.
Read. Log.
Aldi's tills are famously quick, so the only window to look at a pack is while it's still in your trolley. Two taps in our app and the ingredient list, the additives and the nutrition panel are on your phone before the cashier reaches your beans.
Open NutraSafe, tap Scan
The camera opens. Point it at the EAN-13 barcode on the back of the pack. We read the code, fetch the food data from our UK food databases and surface the ingredient list, calories, macros and additives. No typing, no searching.
The flag is the bit to look at
Every additive we recognise gets a plain-English line: what it is, where it shows up, what the research says. The scan and the additive count are free; naming each one, what it does and the evidence behind a flagged concern is Pro. Source on every flag.
Tap Log to add to your day
Calories, carbs, protein, fat, salt and sugar all add to your day against the UK NRV. On Pro you also see vitamins and minerals updating in real time. Free covers up to 25 food logs a day.
If the code's not in the database
Newly listed Specialbuys and very short Themed Week lines occasionally aren't seeded yet. Tap Add manually, type the product name and read the four numbers off the back (kcal, protein, carbs, fat). Forty-five seconds, and the entry's in your diary.
One supermarket,
a dozen brands.
Aldi runs a deliberately small range with own-brand sub-tiers doing the heavy lifting. Knowing which tier you're looking at tells you a lot before you even scan.
Specially Selected
The premium tier: dry-cured meats, artisan-style breads, single-estate oils, aged cheddars. Ingredient lists tend to be shorter and additive-light, which the scan surfaces straight away. A good place to start if you want fewer flags.
Nature's Pick & The Foodie Market
Fruit, veg and ambient dry goods. Most loose produce doesn't carry a barcode; for packaged lines (snipped salads, pre-portioned veg, mushrooms) the scan reads them like any other pack and adds them to your day.
Mamia (babies and toddlers)
Nappies and wipes are non-food. The food side covers stage 1 to 3 jars and pouches, biscotti, snacks and follow-on formula. A handful of older Mamia toddler-snack lines still carry Southampton Six colours that trigger the mandatory UK hyperactivity warning; the flag shows that the moment you scan.
Roosters, Ashfields, Four Seasons
Cooked meats, raw poultry and frozen meals. Cured lines (smoked bacon, Bavarian ham, chorizo) usually carry sodium nitrite (E250) and antioxidants like sodium ascorbate (E301). The flag explains why processed meat is on the watchlist and quotes the NHS 70g a day cap.
What an Aldi
scan tends to surface.
We don't grade Aldi. We list what's there. Below are additives we see most often when Aldi packs come through the scanner.
E250 sodium nitrite
Used to cure ham, bacon and salami. Eating cured meat regularly is linked to bowel cancer. The NHS caps processed meat at 70g a day. IARC Group 1, Monograph 114.
Southampton Six colours
E102, E104, E110, E122, E124, E129. UK products containing any of them must carry "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children." Still occasionally on Themed Week confectionery and some children's snacks.
E951 aspartame
The sweetener in many sugar-free Vive drinks and diet cordials. IARC reclassified it Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic) in July 2023; the EFSA Acceptable Daily Intake stayed at 40mg/kg of body weight.
E471 mono- and diglycerides
A common emulsifier in own-brand bread, spreads and biscuits. Generally permitted; we surface it so you know the long ingredient line is there if you're trying to keep your shop closer to whole-food.
Frequently
asked.
Real questions from Aldi shoppers using the app.
Yes. Aldi own-brand sub-ranges (Specially Selected, Nature's Pick, Inspired Cuisine, The Foodie Market, Mamia, Roosters, Village Bakery and the rest) use standard EAN-13 codes. If a UK barcode is in our food databases, the scanner reads it and we list the ingredients, calories, macros and additives. New and very short seasonal lines occasionally miss; tap Add manually and four fields from the back of the pack cover it.
The full ingredient list, the nutrition panel from the pack, calories and macros against your day, and a count of the additives we recognise. Naming each one and what it does is Pro. Big 14 UK allergens are spotted in the ingredient list, but always check the packet itself, our data can be out of date, so never rely on any app for a serious allergy. Vitamins and minerals on Pro track against the UK NRV.
The download is free and the basics are free: up to 25 food logs a day, the barcode scanner with the additive count, reaction logging while you build a baseline, and the E-number library on this website. Pro is £3.99 a month or £34.99 a year, names each additive and what it does, lifts the caps, and adds the AI features, the workouts and the fasting.
Cured meats (Specially Selected Bavarian smoked ham, Roosters cooked bacon) often carry sodium nitrite (E250). Some older Mamia children's snacks and a handful of confectionery lines still use Southampton Six colours that carry the mandatory UK hyperactivity warning. Sweetened drinks in the Vive range often contain aspartame (E951) or acesulfame K (E950). We flag each one in plain English with the source on the line.
Specialbuys (the middle aisle) are mostly non-food and we won't have nutrition data for those. Food Specialbuys and Themed Week lines (French Week, Italian Week, Greek Week) often arrive faster than the databases get updated. If a code comes back empty, the manual-add path takes four numbers and you're done.
Try it on your next
Aldi shop.
Scan a Specially Selected pasta or a Roosters bacon and we read the barcode, show the additive count and add the calories to your day. Free download. Naming each additive and what it does is Pro, £3.99/month or £34.99/year, along with AI Coach, workouts and fasting.
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