Food labels weren't written for parents. Melu reads them for your child's age.

Melu is a food scanner that rates grocery products based on your child's age. Scan any barcode. See what's really inside — and whether it's safe for their stage.

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Calibrated for age 3
No artificial dyes
92
Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
Good Choice
No artificial colors or dyes detected
Low sugar — 4g is only 16% of your 3-year-old's daily limit
Contains 180mg sodium — 18% of daily limit for age 3
What this means for your child
A solid everyday snack for your toddler. Sodium is a bit elevated for this age but within safe range for occasional...
Independent of food brands
Age-specific scoring
Based on pediatric guidelines
Why Melu exists

Your pediatrician can't go grocery shopping with you. Melu can.

The difference age makes

Same product. Different ages.
Different scores.

Other food scanners give everyone the same number. Melu adjusts for your child's age — because a toddler's body handles sugar, sodium, and additives very differently than a grade-schooler's.

Age 2
42
Nature Valley Honey Almond Cereal (58g serving)
Use Caution
15g sugar — 60% of a 2-year-old's daily limit, mostly added
Maltodextrin raises blood sugar faster than table sugar
"Natural flavor" hides what's actually in there
Age 8
68
Nature Valley Honey Almond Cereal (58g serving)
Okay
15g sugar is a smaller share of an 8-year-old's daily budget
Whole-grain base with honey and almonds, not candy
Still a sometimes-breakfast — not an everyday one
Context-aware scoring

Same ingredient. Different product.
Different risk.

Other apps flag an ingredient as "bad" everywhere. Melu looks at what it's actually doing in the product — because a leavening agent in pancake mix isn't the same as an emulsifier in processed cheese.

No concern
Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate
in Pamela's Pancake Mix
Role: Leavening agent — reacts with baking soda to make pancakes rise. Present in trace amounts as part of the baking powder blend.
No concern at this level
Worth watching
Sodium Phosphate
in Kraft Mac & Cheese
Role: Emulsifier — the salt that lets processed cheese melt smoothly. A sign the cheese was rebuilt in a factory rather than simply made.
Worth monitoring at this level
This is the nuance other scanners miss. Phosphate leaveners in your pancake mix aren't dangerous — they're doing the same job as baking powder. But phosphates used as emulsifiers across multiple processed foods throughout the day add up. Melu knows the difference.
How it works

Three seconds. That's all it takes.

No sign-up required. Open the app, point your camera, and know exactly what you're putting in the cart.

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Scan any barcode
Point your camera at any grocery product. Works with most US grocery products.
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Get an age-specific score
See a 0-100 safety score calibrated to your child's developmental stage. Not a generic number.
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Understand why
AI-powered explanations tell you exactly which ingredients matter and what they mean for your child.
The gap no one's filling

Food safety standards weren't built for children.
Melu was.

Children absorb and process food differently than adults. But most safety thresholds were set with grown-ups in mind — not your toddler.

12
common food additives in US grocery products are banned or restricted in the European Union
50+
years since most synthetic food dyes were approved by the FDA — still without child-specific safety limits
0
other food scanning apps adjust their scores based on your child's age or developmental stage
Every parent deserves to know what's in their child's food. Melu doesn't just flag bad ingredients — it tells you why they matter for your child's age, and what safe looks like.
Built for parents

Everything you need. Nothing you don't.

No clutter, no ads, no brand partnerships. Just clear answers about what's in the cart.

Age-adjusted scoring
Enter your child's age — from newborn to 12 — and get a score calibrated to their stage. Sugar, sodium, and additive thresholds all shift to match pediatric guidelines.
AI-powered explanations
Not just "too much sugar." Melu tells you exactly how much of your 2-year-old's daily limit is in one serving — and what a safe portion looks like.
Dye and additive detection
Instantly flags Red 40, Yellow 5, BHA, TBHQ, and dozens of other additives the FDA is phasing out or that are already banned in Europe.
Help us grow the database
Product not found? Snap a photo of the nutrition label. Our AI reads it, scores it, and saves it — so the next parent gets an instant result.
Questions

Frequently asked

Our promise

Do brands pay to influence scores?

No — and they never will. Melu has zero brand partnerships and no advertising. Every score is calculated using the same evidence-informed methodology, regardless of the manufacturer.

Our scoring is built on four core principles: age-appropriate sugar and sodium thresholds that shift with your child's developmental stage, additive detection for artificial dyes, preservatives, and other ingredients banned or restricted in Europe, processing level to distinguish whole foods from ultra-processed ones, and contextual nuance — because the same ingredient can be harmless in one product and worth watching in another. For example, disodium diphosphate as a leavening agent in pancake mix is fine, but as an emulsifier in processed cheese it's a different story. Most scanners flag it everywhere. Melu knows the difference.
Because toddlers aren't small adults. About a quarter of grocery products score 0 for ages 2–4 — mostly foods with artificial dyes, heavy added sugar, or adult-size sodium loads in toddler-size bodies. The same product often scores far higher for older kids and adults, and plain whole foods (butter, oats, fruit) score high at every age. Strictness for toddlers is the point, not a bug.
Yes. The core scanning and scoring experience is completely free. We'll eventually offer a premium tier with features like multiple child profiles and weekly nutrition reports — but scanning any product for an age-specific safety score is free, and we intend to keep it that way.
Take a photo of the nutrition label. Our AI reads it, extracts the ingredients and nutrition facts, scores the product, and saves it to our database — so the next parent who scans that barcode gets an instant result. Every scan makes Melu better for everyone.
Add to your phone

Get Melu on your phone.

Available on iPhone and Android. Download the app and start scanning in seconds. Or try it in your browser — no download needed.

iPhone (App Store)
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Open the app and start scanning
Free on the App Store. Scan any barcode and get an age-specific score in seconds.
Android (Google Play)
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Tap "Install" — Melu will appear on your home screen
Melu is currently in early access on Android. Join the testing group first to get access to the Play Store listing.

Melu goes grocery shopping with you.

Scan your first product — it takes three seconds.

Download the app free