Making healthy decisions using the Good Tucker app

Determining whether packaged food is good for you often requires detailed reading on the packet.

Thanks to Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup of Uncle Jimmy’s Thumbs Up Ltd, Dr Julie Brimblecombe from Monash University and Tom Wycherley at University of South Australia, there is now a simple and easy way to check if a food or drink product is good for you.

It’s called the Good Tucker app. It’s free and is available for all mobile devices.

After opening the app, all you do is scan the barcode on the packaging. You will get one of 3 possible ratings: Green Thumbs Up, Yellow Thumbs horizontal or Red Thumbs Down.

Thumbs Up Ltd has been promoting healthy eating choices for years and has enjoyed a 10 year relationship with ALPA (Arnhem Land Progress Association) and Outback Stores.

They have displayed Good Tucker signage for healthier foods on selected shelves in over 50 remote stores across the Top End, combining this with community nutrition education in schools and health clinics.

The signage was successful up to a point, but many products for a number of reasons, ended up on the wrong shelves, (for example, Coke put in the water fridge, high sugar cereal with healthy ones) confusing consumers and weakening the outcomes of the program,’ Buzz said.

In 2016, Buzz and Julie had a "lightbulb" moment when they came up with what we now call the Good Tucker app.

Working with Tom Wycherley and using the existing Food Switch app, developed by George Institute for Global Health, they redeveloped the app to include an interface more suitable for those in remote communities.

‘It took about a year to develop the graphics and test it with all the products available in remote stores on all mobile devices,’ Buzz said.

The app was launched by the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon. Ken Wyatt in October 2017. Since then, it has been downloaded thousands of times.

Packaging and barcodes change so like all apps, the Good Tucker app will require regular updates as the product list changes and new barcodes are added to the Food Switch app data base.

There are further developments coming which will enhance the app.

In 2018, Thumbs Up! secured a grant to promote the Good Tucker App and also develop a new suite of in store signage that is directly related to the graphics on the Good Tucker app,’ Buzz said.

The rollout of the signage in ALPA and Outback Stores should be complete by mid-2022.

In addition there will be a suite of "too much sugar" warnings for food, drinks, sweets and lollies displayed in remote clinics and other community areas by early 2022.