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How KidLabel Works

KidLabel reads the ingredients list from a food label and matches detected additives against our curated database.

What an E-number means

An E-number is simply an identification code for a food additive that has been given a number for labelling purposes. It tells you which additive is present — it is not a danger rating and it does not describe how risky an ingredient is.

Many everyday ingredients have E-numbers, including things like citric acid and pectin. Seeing an E-number on a label is normal.

How we flag additives

KidLabel only displays an elevated child-related or regulatory flag when it is supported by predefined, reviewed criteria stored in our database. Those flags are written by us in advance, with a named source — they are never generated on the fly while you scan.

The image-reading step may help transcribe and normalise text, but it never decides an attention level, a regulatory status, a warning, or a source. If an additive has not been reviewed and assigned a flag, KidLabel shows it as information only.

What KidLabel does not do

KidLabel does not determine whether an entire food is healthy, unhealthy, safe or unsafe. It does not produce an overall product score or ranking.

This free version looks at food additives only. It does not assess sugar, sweeteners, trans fats, calories, salt, allergens, vitamins or overall nutritional quality.

Where our information comes from

Every reviewed additive record carries a source organisation, a source title and a link, plus the date we last reviewed it. You can open the original source from any result card.

Read the full disclaimer