Food label scanner · In development · Android first
Every label, explained.
Scan the barcode or photograph the label. Zabel decodes the ingredients and the INS codes, reads the nutrition panel against the serving you will actually eat, and gives you a health score you can take apart line by line.
Free · English and हिन्दी · No ads
Masala instant noodles
| Component | Points |
|---|---|
| Nutrients of concern Sodium 1,200 mg · sat fat 8.5 g |
19 / 50 |
| Positive nutrients Protein 9.5 g · fibre undeclared |
7 / 15 |
| Additives Three grade-2 codes, −6 each |
2 / 20 |
| Processing NOVA 4 |
2 / 15 |
Scan the barcode, or the label itself
Most label apps need a barcode, which rules out the loose, the local and the freshly repackaged. Photograph the printed panel instead and a bakery biscuit works the same as a national brand.
Every INS code and additive, in words
What each additive is, why it is in the pack, and what the evidence actually says about it - in English or Hindi, with the nutrition panel read per serving rather than per 100 g.
A health score that shows its arithmetic
Tap any score and you get the components, the inputs, the weights and the source each threshold came from. Nothing is behind a number you cannot open.
Nothing is hidden behind a number.
Proprietary scores hand you a rating and ask you to trust it. Every part of a Zabel result opens into the thing underneath it, down to the regulation the threshold came from.
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The score, and what it is made of Nutrients of concern, positive nutrients, additives and processing - each with its own points, its own weight and its own citation.
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Which warnings the pack would carry Computed against the thresholds in FSSAI's proposed front-of-pack rule, years before the packaging changes.
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Each nutrient against your day Per serving, not per 100 g, measured against the ICMR-NIN daily limits for the profile you set - a profile that never leaves your phone.
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Silence, not zero A nutrient the label did not declare is shown as undeclared and keeps its weight. Treating a missing figure as zero is how a pack with no fibre line outscores one that admits to none.
Thresholds from the ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians and FSSAI's Food Additives Regulations. Every one of them is named on the method page.
We take no money from food brands.
This is the part that decides whether any of the rest is worth reading, so it is a constraint on the architecture rather than a promise in a footer.
- No ads, anywhere in the app
- No sponsored results or paid placements
- No selling or brokering of your scans
- A brand may reply to a score. It cannot change one.
Reading the label is advice nobody can follow.
The panel is printed per 100 g while the pack is 30 g. The additives are numbers. The claims on the front are rarely checked. Zabel does the part the label leaves to you.
adults in India living with diabetes, with another 136 million prediabetic.
ICMR-INDIAB · The Lancet, 2023is what the nutrition panel declares, whatever the pack in your hand weighs.
FSSAI Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020is how a label is allowed to say monosodium glutamate. A number, not a name.
FSSAI Food Additives Regulations, Appendix ABefore you sign up
Does it work if the pack has no barcode?
Yes. Photograph the ingredient and nutrition panels and Zabel reads the printed label. If the product is new to us, your scan is what adds it for everyone else.
What does INS mean on a food label?
INS is the International Numbering System for food additives, kept by Codex Alimentarius. Indian labels may print an additive as its number instead of its name - INS 621 is monosodium glutamate, INS 330 is citric acid. Zabel turns each code back into a name and says what it is doing in the pack.
Is it free?
Scanning, the score and the full method are free and always will be. A paid tier later will cover family profiles and offline use - never the score itself.
Who decides the score?
A published formula does, not an opinion and not a model. A language model reads the pack and writes the explanation; it never decides the number. You can reproduce any score by hand from the figures we show you.
Can a brand pay to improve its score?
No. A brand can send a correction if a label is wrong, or publish a reply alongside its product. Neither changes the arithmetic.
What happens to the photos I take?
They are used to read the label, then deleted within 90 days unless the product record is published. They are never sold and never shown to anyone else. The privacy page sets out the rest.
Start with the pack in your hand.
One address, no account. We will write when there is an Android build we would hand to a friend in a supermarket - and not before.