Giki App has just launched a new plant based badge to help people cut the environmental impact of their diet.
Let’s face it, making more sustainable and ethical choices when shopping is not easy. Clever marketing and packaging are often misleading while product labels can be hard to read. I discovered Giki App last year and it has proven invaluable in gaining a better understanding of the impact of our weekly shopping.
Giki (Get Informed Know your Impact) is a social enterprise co-founded by Jo and James Hand in 2017. The free Giki mobile app launched in 2018 and now counts over 280,000 rated products from major UK supermarkets and brands. Giki rates products along 15 badges, including Low Carbon Footprint, Sustainable Palm Oil, Animal Welfare, Healthier Option, Better Packaging, the Hero badge and the brand new plant based badge.
Giki App is very easy to use. All you do is scan the product barcode to find which badges have been awarded. When available, Giki will also suggest higher scoring alternative products so you can decide which one to buy.
Giki draws on a number of different data sources such as product information, government guidelines, company reports and scientific and academic research. The app uses a combination of human research and raw computing power, translated into a point system that awards badges for sustainable, healthy and ethical indicators.
The new Giki plant-based badge identifies vegan products available in major UK supermarkets, from processed foods such as ready meals to unprocessed like fruits, vegetables, pulses and grains. This new sustainability badge was created to highlight the environmental benefits of a plant based diet, and was specifically requested by Giki users reflecting the growing popularity of a more plant based diet. Over 23,000 products across food categories in the Giki database are awarded this new badge, giving users many options to choose from.
“Our aim with the plant based badge is to help people identify products that are made from plants, to support people wishing to reduce or cut out meat, fish or dairy in their diets. This includes both processed foods which are plant based but also unprocessed foods such as fruit, vegetables, pulses and grains.” says Jo Hand, co-founder of Giki.
“As we become more aware of the urgency to act on climate change and biodiversity loss, addressing what we eat is a key area where we can reduce our own environmental impact, eating more plants and less meat is a good step to take.”
Suitable for both iPhone and android devices, Giki is free to download from the App Store or Google Play. Find more information here.
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