How our scores work

Every number in Simply Pure can be traced to a public regulatory assessment or a published nutrition threshold. This page explains how scores are calculated: the parts, the weights, and the caps that shape every result. No sponsored adjustments, ever.

Methodology version 1.2, updated July 2026. The method evolves as regulators publish new assessments; material changes are noted here with a new version number.

The score

Food products are scored out of 100 from three parts:

• Nutrition (up to 60 points), from the Simply Pure nutrition model below.
• Additives (up to 30 points), from the riskiest additive present.
• Processing (up to 10 points), from the product's NOVA classification: unprocessed and minimally processed foods (group 1) earn all 10, processed culinary ingredients (group 2) earn 7, processed foods (group 3) earn 4, and ultra-processed foods (group 4) earn 0.

If an axis has no data (for example a product with no nutrition facts or no NOVA classification in the database), it is excluded and the score is renormalized over what is known; missing data is never rewarded. If both major axes are missing, there is no score at all.

Simply Pure shows organic certification but does not score it. Certification describes farming practice, not ingredient safety, and no points should come from anything we can't tie to a safety assessment.

Two hard caps override everything: a product containing any high-risk additive scores at most 49, and a product containing any additive banned in the EU scores at most 24, regardless of how good its nutrition looks.

The nutrition model

We start at 60 points and deduct for sugars, saturated fat, sodium and calories per 100 g, using the same public-health thresholds shown in the app's gauges (derived from the UK Food Standards Agency traffic-light bands). Fiber and protein earn bonus points. One thing most scores ignore is counted here:

• Artificial sweeteners: their presence costs 6 points, so a diet soda cannot outscore water on sweetness alone.

Ultra-processing is scored on its own axis (above) using the NOVA classification, so a product's degree of industrial processing visibly costs points instead of hiding inside the nutrition number.

Personal-care products (cosmetics, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, skin care), pet food and household products have no nutrition axis; they are scored on ingredient safety alone, against the EU Cosmetics Regulation and SCCS opinions, EU feed rules and documented pet toxicity, and EU CLP/REACH classifications respectively.

Household and personal-care products additionally show an Environment note: ingredients with a documented environmental concern (an EU CLP aquatic-toxicity classification, poor biodegradability, eutrophication as with the phosphates the EU banned from consumer detergents, reef damage as with the UV filters Hawaii and Palau banned, or microplastic pollution) are listed with the reason. This note is informational only; the score itself rates safety for the person using the product.

Additive risk

Each additive carries a risk tier (none, limited, moderate, or high), assigned from EFSA re-evaluations and the EU approval status, and raised when a strict jurisdiction (Japan's positive list, Health Canada, Singapore) prohibits something the EU permits. Additives we cannot identify don't get the benefit of the doubt. The app shows this as a three-color system: green, yellow, red.

Every additive in the database also carries a per-country status for the EU, Japan, and Canada, checked individually against Japan's designated/existing additive lists (MHLW) and Health Canada's Lists of Permitted Food Additives, so you see an actual verdict for each country instead of being told to look it up yourself. The rare entry we haven't finished verifying says so explicitly.

Dose, not just presence

A flag isn't a verdict; dose matters. Where a reliable Acceptable Daily Intake exists (EFSA or JECFA; we carry ~45 of them), Simply Pure estimates how much of the additive one serving contains, from its position in the ingredient list and "contains 2% or less" markers, and shows it as a percentage of the daily limit for a 70 kg adult, labeled estimate or rough estimate by confidence. When no reliable estimate is possible, the app says exactly that: "amount unknown, rated on its risk level alone". Estimates are upper-bound leaning and never change the score.

Personalization

If you set diet preferences (keto, low-sodium, and others), the nutrition deductions are reweighted to match. A personalized score is marked with a "Personalized" chip, can differ from the standard score by at most 12 points, and the additive caps always still apply. The standard score is always one tap away. Simply Pure deliberately has no weight-loss mode.

Data sources and corrections

• Product data comes from the Open Food Facts family of community databases (ODbL), merged with corrections submitted by Simply Pure users.
• User corrections are reviewed before publication and, once approved, contributed back to Open Food Facts.
• Additive and ingredient assessments cite their sources (EFSA, SCCS, Health Canada, Japan's MHLW), and a weekly watchdog monitors those regulators' publications for changes.
• Recall alerts come from the U.S. FDA's public enforcement database (openFDA).

Independence

Simply Pure has no advertisers, no sponsored placements, and no commercial relationship with any manufacturer. Nobody can pay to change a score. The app is free; it is supported by voluntary donations.