Food tracker UK — log, scan and see what's missing

What our food tracker actually does

A food tracker, in plain English, is a place to write down what you ate so you can see the totals at the end of the day or week. We do that, and we do a few things on top.

When you log a food in our app, three things happen at once. First, we add its calories, protein, carbs, fat, fibre, sugar, saturated fat and salt to your daily totals. Second, if it is a packaged product we have an additive grade for, you see that grade on the food card — so a ready meal with three colour additives sits next to a clean tinned tomato, and the difference is obvious. Third, on NutraSafe Pro, we run the food through our micronutrient engine and add its vitamins and minerals to your week — so by Sunday you can look back and see, "I have hit folate twice this week," not just "I ate around 1,800 kcal."

We are a tracking tool, not your GP or dietitian. We will not tell you what to eat, prescribe a plan, or claim to fix a condition. What we do is give you an honest picture of your week, in numbers that match the labels you actually buy, so you can take that picture to a clinician if something needs acting on.

A walkthrough: log a meal in our app

Here is what a typical day looks like inside the tracker.

1. Breakfast — search. You type "porridge" into search, pick your brand and portion, hit add. We log calories, fibre, B-vitamins from the oats, and a small amount of iron.
2. Mid-morning — scan a barcode. You scan the barcode on a flapjack from the corner shop. We read the standard UK barcode (GTIN/EAN) and look it up in our food database. The card shows ingredients, additives we found in the list, and our per-product grade. You log it; the grade is then visible against this entry in your diary, alongside the calories.
3. Lunch — photograph the plate. No barcode on a meal-deal sandwich and a takeaway salad? On NutraSafe Pro, our AI meal scan lets you photograph the plate and we estimate the calories and macros for you. Less precise than a barcode scan, more honest than guessing.
4. Afternoon — reaction. Twenty minutes after a sweetened iced coffee, your stomach is unsettled. You tap the entry and log a reaction (bloating, mild). Free users get up to 5 reactions; on NutraSafe Pro, our suspected-triggers analysis looks across all your reactions over time and flags the foods that keep showing up before symptoms — without diagnosing anything.
5. Evening — review. Your dashboard shows daily totals: calories, the macro split, fibre, salt. On NutraSafe Pro, the same dashboard shows where you sit on each vitamin and mineral against UK Nutrient Reference Values, and a watchlist tells you which ones you have missed two or more days in a row.

The vitamin and mineral angle — why we built it

Most trackers are calorie-first. Ours is not. We made vitamin and mineral tracking against UK NRVs a first-class feature because of what the UK data keeps saying.

The National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023 (gov.uk, June 2025) found 18% of UK adults had low vitamin D status, and 83% of women of childbearing age had red-cell folate below the threshold associated with reduced neural-tube-defect risk. These are population-level findings, not a guess. Most people only learn about gaps like this from a blood test, after the fact.

What we do is let you see the pattern in your own week before that point. Log a normal week of food on NutraSafe Pro and our dashboard will tell you, for example, that you hit the folate NRV on two days out of seven and missed it on five. That is not medical advice, and we are not going to tell you to take a supplement — but it is the kind of fact you can take to your GP or dietitian and have a real conversation about.

What you get free, and what's on NutraSafe Pro

We are honest about the line. Our app is free to download, but the full feature set is paid. Here is the split, taken straight from the code. For a free-tier-specific comparison across UK options, see our guide to free food diary apps UK.

Free

• Log up to 25 foods per day to your diary.
• Scan any UK barcode for ingredients, additives we found in the list, and our per-product grade.
• Log up to 5 reactions against foods.
• Public E-number lookup — type any E-number, see what it is in plain English.
• No ads, ever.

NutraSafe Pro — £3.99/month (iOS, monthly only)

• Vitamin and mineral tracking against UK Nutrient Reference Values across your full diet.
• AI Coach — chat-style guidance based on your actual food history and goals.
• AI meal scan — photograph any plate and get an estimated calorie and macro breakdown.
• Allergen warning detail on barcode scans.
• Fasting tools and workouts tracking.
• Suspected-triggers analysis — we surface foods that show up repeatedly before reactions.
• Processed-food and NRV insights — week-on-week trends for the metrics that matter.
• Full reaction history with no cap.
• Higher daily logging cap above the free 25/day limit.

We do not run an annual plan and we do not run free trials with hidden charges. It is 3.99 a month, monthly, on iOS, and you can cancel from the App Store at any time.

How to get an honest picture of your week

1. Log as you eat, not at the end of the day. Memory is generous. Real-time logging is honest.
2. Scan packaged things; search loose things. A barcode is faster and more accurate than search when there is a packet.
3. Pick a portion that matches your plate. Halving the suggested portion if you only ate half is the single biggest accuracy win.
4. Log drinks and oils. A weekly latte habit and the oil in a stir-fry both count, and they are the two most common things people miss.
5. Read the week, not the day. One day on the high side does not define your nutrition. A week of low folate or low vitamin D might.

Tracker patterns by what people are working on

Wanting to eat more whole food

Use the additive grade on every barcode scan. Over a week you will see, in your own diary, how often you reach for products with multiple additives versus simpler alternatives. We do not tell you to avoid anything — we just put the grade next to the calorie count so the trade-off is visible.

Wanting to hit a protein target

Log every meal and snack. Our daily macro view shows you where you are against your protein number, in grams, in real time. Most people underestimate how much they need until they see the number after dinner.

Wanting to find food triggers

Log reactions against foods (free: 5; Pro: unlimited). On NutraSafe Pro our suspected-triggers analysis cross-references your reactions with your food history and flags repeats. We do not diagnose intolerances; we surface patterns to take to your GP or dietitian.

Wanting to fix a vitamin or mineral gap

On NutraSafe Pro, the dashboard tells you which nutrients you missed for two or more days running. Pair that with the NDNS data above, take it to your GP, and you have a real conversation rather than a vague "I think I need more iron."

Sources

• UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023 (gov.uk, June 2025)
• NHS — Eat Well
• FSA — Food Additives