Score
Why We Built the InSpoon Score
We created the InSpoon Score to improve upon NutriScore, which many countries use to help people choose healthier food. While NutriScore is helpful, it has a key limitation: it always scores food based on 100g or 100ml, regardless of how much people actually eat. This can lead to misleading results, especially when a typical serving is much smaller or much larger.
InSpoon Score evaluates nutrition based on actual serving sizes, aligning with FDA-defined Daily Values and nutrient thresholds. This means the score reflects how much of a nutrient someone is likely to consume in one sitting, not in an arbitrary 100g amount. This makes the score more practical and meaningful for everyday decisions.
While the InSpoon Score is driven by nutrients, ingredients and additives can also affect the final score. Risky ingredients or additives lower the score regardless of nutrient quality, and flagged items cap how high the score can be. This prevents products with concerning ingredients from appearing healthier than they are.
How InSpoon Scoring Works
We look at three things:
- Key nutrients: calories, saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium.
- Ingredients: whether any ingredients are flagged or risky.
- Additives: whether any additives are flagged or risky.
Step 1 – We check the key nutrients
Each key nutrient is classified per serving as:
- Low (good)
- Moderate
- Elevated
- High (bad)
We then count how many key nutrients are Elevated or High.
Nutrient-based score rules
| High nutrients | Elevated nutrients | Resulting score | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 or more | any | Poor (D) | Very high sugar, salt, fat, or calories |
| 2 | 1 or more | Poor (D) | Multiple nutrients are clearly unhealthy |
| 2 | 0 | Low (C) | Two nutrients are high, others are low |
| 1 | 3 or more | Poor (D) | One very high plus several elevated nutrients |
| 1 | 1-2 | Low (C) | One high nutrient with some elevation |
| 1 | 0 | Moderate (B) | One nutrient is high, others are low |
| 0 | 2 or more | Low (C) | Several nutrients are elevated |
| 0 | 1 | Moderate (B) | One nutrient is slightly elevated |
| 0 | 0 | High (A) | All key nutrients are low or balanced |
This prevents products with excessive sugar, salt, fat, or calories from scoring well.
A+ is reserved for exceptional products – all key nutrients must be Low, beneficial nutrients (such as protein or fiber) must be strong, and there must be no flagged or risky ingredients or additives.
Step 2 – We check ingredients and additives
Ingredients and additives are rated as:
- Safe
- Flagged
- Risky
How this affects the score
- Any Risky ingredient or additive
- If nutrients are already bad, the score becomes Poor
- If nutrients are mostly good, the score is capped at Low
- Flagged ingredients or additives
- One flagged item means the score cannot be higher than Low
- A flagged ingredient and a flagged additive together mean the score cannot be higher than Moderate
Flagged and risky items can only lower the score. They never raise it.
Step 3 – We choose the final score
The final score is always the worst result produced by the rules above.
Good nutrients help, but they cannot cancel out:
- very high sugar, salt, or fat
- risky ingredients
- risky additives
Why this approach is fair
- All key nutrients are treated equally
- Serving size is used when available, with safe fallbacks when needed
- No hidden math or weighting tricks
- You can always see exactly why a product scored the way it did
Nutrient Classification Thresholds (per serving)
These thresholds explain how each nutrient is classified as Low, Moderate, Elevated, or High. The InSpoon Score uses these classifications (not raw numbers) to determine the final grade.
Unfavorable Nutrient Thresholds
| Energy, kcal | Saturated fat, g | Added Sugar, g | Sodium, mg | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1200.0 – 2000.0 | 12.0 – 20.0 | 30.0 – 50.0 | 1380.0 – 2300.0 | High |
| 400.0 – 1200.0 | 4.0 – 12.0 | 10.0 – 30.0 | 460.0 – 1380.0 | Elevated |
| 100.0 – 400.0 | 1.0 – 4.0 | 2.5 – 10.0 | 115.0 – 460.0 | Moderate |
| 0.0 – 100.0 | 0.5 – 1.0 | 0.5 – 2.5 | 5.0 – 115.0 | Low |
Favorable Nutrient Thresholds
| Proteins, g | Fibre, g | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 0.1 – 2.5 | 0.1 – 1.4 | Moderate |
| 2.5 – 10 | 1.4 – 5.6 | Good |
| 10 – 50 | 5.6 – 28.0 | High |
Other Nutrients
Total Sugars
FDA defines Total Sugars as the sum of natural and added sugars. No daily limit is set for natural sugars and therefore for total sugars since no specific health risk is identified. That is why total sugars do not affect the InSpoon Score. The Total Sugars bar is informational only and reflects how much total sugars is in a serving.
Final Score Rating
| Description | Grade | Visual Example |
|---|---|---|
| HIGHEST VALUE | A+ |  |
| HIGH VALUE | A |  |
| MODERATE VALUE | B |  |
| LOW VALUE | C |  |
| POOR VALUE | D |  |