How Daat rates food
By the Daat team · Updated October 30, 2026
When you scan a product, Daat reads two things: the nutrition panel and the ingredient list. Then it checks each condition you chose on its own and tells you whether the product fits and why. This page sets out exactly how, numbers included.
One example, start to finish
Say you scan a cereal bar (an illustration, not a real product). Its panel shows 18 g sugar, 3 g saturated fat and 150 mg sodium per 100 g. The ingredients list three E-numbers: lecithin (E322), E471 and citric acid (E330).
- On the recommended plan it does not fit. Sugar at 18 g is over the 12 g line; everything else is fine, and three additives is under the limit.
- On the low-fat plan it fits. 3 g of saturated fat is under the line, and that plan does not check sugar.
- If you also chose gluten sensitivity and the oats are not labelled gluten-free, you will see that as a second reason.
On screen you see the verdict together with the line that caused it, for example "sugar 18 g". We always show the reason, not just a yes or no.
How the conditions add up to one verdict
Each condition can pass, fail, or stay open when we do not have the data. One failed condition is enough for the product not to fit. If everything we could check passed, it fits.
A condition with no data is simply left out. We chose this because a grey "unknown" on every product missing a single line helps nobody. It does mean a green verdict says "nothing we checked failed", which is why we will never call a product safe for someone with an allergy.
If none of your conditions can be checked at all, we say so and list what is missing, for example "missing: saturated fat".
The plans and their numbers
Every new account starts on the recommended plan, so even the first scan gives an answer. All values are per 100 g and are also shown in the app next to each plan.
| Plan | The product does not fit if it has |
|---|---|
| Recommended | More than 12 g sugar, 5 g saturated fat, 0.5 g trans fat or 500 mg sodium, or more than 4 different additives |
| Low sugar | More than 6 g sugar |
| Low fat | More than 4 g saturated fat or 0.5 g trans fat |
The lines are high on purpose. We wanted a product to fail when it is genuinely loaded with sugar or salt, not to turn every other product red. 12 g of sugar is above most everyday food. The low-sugar plan uses 6 g, a little above the usual 5 g definition of "low sugar".
For fat we decided not to count total fat. Olive oil, nuts and tahini are rich in fat and there is no reason to fail them. We check saturated and trans fat, which is also where palm oil, coconut oil and hydrogenated fats show up. Trans fat has no "safe" amount, so its line is close to zero, with a small margin only for rounding on the label.
What we found running it on the catalog
We ran the recommended plan’s lines over 16,831 Israeli products with an ingredient list. Each figure counts only products whose panel lists the relevant value.
- 32% of products are over 12 g sugar. For chocolate and sweets it is 80%, for cakes and biscuits 71%, and for bread only 1%.
- 21% are over 500 mg sodium. For meat products it is 55%.
- Among cheeses, 63% are over the saturated-fat line.
- 44% of products have no E-number at all, and 9% have more than four.
Product types (sweets, bread and so on) were identified from product names, so treat them as estimates. The numbers update as the catalog grows.
When the panel is missing a line
Plenty of labels skip a line, usually saturated or trans fat. We do not assume the missing value is zero. Instead we work out a bound from what is there: saturated fat cannot exceed total fat, and sugar cannot exceed carbohydrates. If the bound is enough to decide, we use it. If it sits too close to the line, the result is marked "borderline" with a note.
Gluten, lactose and glucose
We read sensitivities from the ingredient list and the allergen statement. The scanner knows each substance in several forms, not just the bare word:
- Gluten: wheat, barley, rye, spelt, malt and anything made from them. Plain "flour" leaves the answer open, because it could be rice flour.
- Lactose: milk, whey, casein, butter, cheese. Almond or oat drinks do not count, and neither does lactic acid (E270), which despite its name contains no milk.
- Glucose: glucose, dextrose, syrups and sugar in the ingredients, or sugar on the nutrition panel.
"May contain" counts the same as "contains". And without a readable ingredient list we will not say a product is clear. To be plain about it: this is not an allergy test. Anyone with an allergy must read the package.
Food additives
Every E-number in the ingredient list counts toward the recommended plan’s limit. The scanner also knows where the additives that matter to vegans come from: carmine (E120) from insects, gelatine (E441) from animals. Some, like E471, can come from either, and then we mark them as undetermined.
Each one has its own page in our food additive guide, including how often it appears in Israeli products.
Where the data comes from
- Open Food Facts, the open, collaborative food database.
- USDA FoodData Central, the US Department of Agriculture’s food composition database.
- Israeli price-transparency data, which tells us which barcode belongs to which product.
- Manufacturer information, and label photos sent in by users.
Every fact is stored with its source. Identity, ingredients, nutrition and kashrut are verified separately, and nothing is marked verified until someone on the team has gone over it. A correction from a user always starts from a photo of the real label.
What Daat cannot do
Products change recipes, and sometimes we find out after the shelf has. Some products have only a name and barcode with us, no ingredients. Daat is an information tool: it does not diagnose, treat, or replace a doctor or dietitian. For kashrut we show what is recorded; the certification on the package and your rabbi decide.
Found a mistake? Tell us at hey@daat-app.com with the product barcode. We read every message and fix it.