How we score products

Food · Nutrition

Nutri-Score (food)

What it is

A 0–100 score and an A–E letter grade summarising the nutritional quality of food and beverages, based on energy, sugars, saturated fat, salt, fibre, protein, and the percentage of fruits, vegetables and legumes per 100 g.

Source

Implements the Nutri-Score 2023 v2 algorithm published by Santé publique France together with the European Scientific Committee, with the official protein, fibre, and FVL inclusion rules.

How Forkin extends it

Forkin applies additional, transparent penalties on top of the Santé publique France base score: NOVA processing group (–4 / –10), per-additive risk based on published toxicological assessments (cap at 49% when any high-risk additive is present), and IARC cancer-risk group flags for processed meat (Group 1, –25 with cap 30%) and red meat (Group 2A, –15). The pre-penalty grade is preserved as a separate field for transparency.

Alcoholic beverages

Alcoholic beverages above 1.2% ABV are excluded from the official Nutri-Score 2023 v2 algorithm by Santé publique France, and Forkin does not display a Nutri-Score on them. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies alcohol as a Group 1 carcinogen — the same tier as tobacco and processed meat — and the World Health Organization (2023) states that no level of alcohol consumption is safe for health. Instead of a score, alcoholic products show an advisory panel with the ABV, the grams of pure alcohol per container, the equivalent number of WHO standard drinks (10 g pure alcohol each), and the IARC / WHO citations. Inside France this aligns with Code de la santé publique L.3323-2 (Loi Évin).

What this score is not

A Nutri-Score is a comparative nutrient profile, not a personalised recommendation. It cannot account for portion sizes, individual nutrient needs, allergies, medical conditions, or how a product fits in your overall diet. It is not advice. Talk to a registered dietitian for clinical nutrition guidance.

Food · Environment

Environmental score (food)

What it is

A 0–100 score and an A–E letter grade representing the cradle-to-processing environmental impact of a product per kilogram, log-normalised against the observed distribution of base-ingredient impacts.

Source

Built on ADEME Agribalyse 3.1 — the French national life-cycle inventory for food, published under Open Licence 2.0 — and aligned with the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) single-score methodology. Percentile anchors (P5/P95) come from 1,358 base-ingredient entries.

Scope

We compute agriculture and processing stages only. We do not include transport, distribution, retail, consumption, or end-of-life — those depend on the user's actual supply chain and are not estimable from the label. Packaging emissions are tracked separately and shown alongside but are not part of the food environmental score.

What this score is not

The environmental score is a comparative signal between products in the same category, not a certified carbon footprint claim. We do not use the names "Eco-Score", "EcoScore", or "Green-Score" — those are trademarks held by ADEME and other parties. Forkin does not certify any product as low-impact.

Food · Processing

NOVA processing group

What it is

A 1–4 classification of how processed a food is, based on the type and purpose of industrial transformation rather than nutrient content.

Source

Based on the NOVA framework developed by Monteiro et al. at the University of São Paulo, adopted as a reference by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO 2019) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO 2019), and used in national dietary guidelines in Brazil, France (PNNS 4), Belgium, and Israel.

How we interpret it

We compute NOVA from the enriched ingredient list, taking the maximum group across all leaf ingredients (per Monteiro 2019 §4: any ultra-processed ingredient promotes the whole product to NOVA 4). The Nutri-Score penalty for ultra-processed foods is grounded in published epidemiology (Srour et al. BMJ 2019, Lane et al. BMJ 2024 umbrella review) linking high consumption with adverse outcomes at the population level.

What this score is not

NOVA classifies processing, not healthiness. A NOVA 4 product is not automatically unhealthy and a NOVA 1 product is not automatically healthy. Population-level epidemiology is not a verdict on any single product.

Pet food

FEDIAF pet-food adequacy

What it is

A 0–100 percentage representing how many of the FEDIAF-published minimum nutrient thresholds a complete pet food meets, computed per kilogram of dry matter for the detected species (dog or cat) and life stage (growth / adult / senior).

Source

Based on the FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs (September 2021, reviewed 2024), published by the European Pet Food Industry Federation. FEDIAF's nutrient minimums are the de facto reference used by EU member-state regulators under Regulation (EC) No 767/2009.

Why a separate score

Human Nutri-Score is meaningless for cats and dogs — different macro profiles, species-specific essential nutrients (e.g. taurine for cats). For pet food we replace the human pathway entirely.

What this score is not

Adequacy is a floor, not a prescription. A score of 100 means a product meets every label-readable FEDIAF minimum. It is not veterinary advice. Specific clinical needs (renal, allergen avoidance, joint support, weight control) require professional input from your vet.

Food · IBS

Low-FODMAP classification

What it is

A four-state classification (yes / no / maybe / unknown) of whether a product is suitable for someone following a low-FODMAP diet for IBS management, based on the dose-dependent presence of six FODMAP subtypes per 100 g of finished product.

Source

Thresholds are derived from Varney et al., "FODMAPs: food composition, defining cutoff values and international application" (Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2017), and from the Monash University FODMAP database (the team that originated the low-FODMAP diet). Each composition entry carries a traceable source identifier.

What this score is not

Not medical advice. Not a clinical recommendation. The low-FODMAP diet is a diagnostic and therapeutic tool that should be supervised by a registered dietitian, especially the reintroduction phase. Individual tolerance varies widely — a product flagged "low-FODMAP" may still trigger symptoms in some people. For IBS management, consult a dietitian.

Food · Structure

Plate breakdown

What it is

A 15-category structural decomposition of a product or scanned meal — vegetables, fruits, whole and refined grains, plant / fish / poultry / red / processed protein, dairy, oils, beverages, snacks, condiments, other — mapped onto the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate framework.

Source

Categorisation follows the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, developed by nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and editors at Harvard Health Publications. Forkin does not reproduce the Harvard graphic — only the category taxonomy, with attribution.

What this score is not

A structural decomposition is not a dietary recommendation. The Harvard Healthy Eating Plate is an educational guide for general healthy adults, not a personalised meal plan. Specific dietary needs require professional input.

Beauty · Environment

Cosmetic environmental score

What it is

A 0–100 packaging-only environmental score for cosmetic products, log-normalised against the observed distribution of cosmetic packaging emissions across our database.

Source

Computed from ADEME Base Carbone (Open Licence 2.0) material emission factors with recycled-content blending per ISO 14021 and refillable amortisation per ADEME's published reuse counts. Cosmetics have no published ingredient-level life-cycle inventory comparable to Agribalyse for food, so for beauty products the environmental tile reflects packaging only.

What this score is not

Packaging emissions are an estimate, not a verified product LCA. The score is a comparative signal between cosmetic products, not an absolute carbon footprint claim.

Beauty · Allergens

Cosmetic allergen tags

What it is

A list of fragrance allergens detected in a cosmetic product's ingredient list. Each tag is one of the 26 substances declared in Annex III of the EU Cosmetics Regulation.

Source

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products (Annex III). Risk class assignments follow opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS/1459/11). The 2023 expansion of Annex III to ~80 substances is in progress and will be added once name harmonisation across CosIng is complete.

What this score is not

Annex III declaration is a regulatory transparency requirement, not a hazard verdict. The presence of an allergen on a label means the substance is above the disclosure threshold — it does not mean the product is unsafe for the general population. Most people are not allergic to most of the 26. Allergen tags are most useful for users who already know they react to a specific substance, typically diagnosed via dermatologist patch testing.

Food · Additives

Food additive risk

What it is

Per-additive risk classification on a 0–4 scale (no concern → avoid), and a per-additive penalty in the Nutri-Score with a hard cap at 49% when any high-risk additive is present.

Source

Risk levels are aggregated from published toxicological assessments by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), and where applicable, the IARC. Each additive entry in our database carries the regulatory ID (E-number), the assessment basis, and the risk class.

What this score is not

Risk classifications reflect the regulatory and scientific record at the time of assessment. They are population-level signals, not individual medical advice.

Open record

Transparency and corrections

The full algorithm specifications, the percentile anchors, and the source citations for every score live in the open source code of our pipeline. If you believe a score is wrong, the underlying methodology is wrong, or a citation needs updating, please email us — we will investigate, correct the record where appropriate, and document the change publicly. We do not adjust scores in response to commercial pressure.

Reach us

Questions?

Email us at hello@forkin.io.