How it works
From a few photos to an honest answer.
Packsay doesn't guess. It reads what's printed on the pack, and tells you plainly when the pack hasn't given it enough to work with.
The capture flow
A few photos, front and back
You photograph the front of the pack, where the claims usually sit, and the back, where the ingredients, nutrition table and any footnotes are. Packsay reads both together, because a claim and its evidence are rarely printed in the same place.
Illustrative only
Front of pack
Illustrative only
Back of pack
These are simple schematic renderings built for this website, not screenshots of the app: Packsay has not yet released, and no functionality is shown here that hasn't been described in writing.
What Packsay reads
Only what's printed on the pack
- Claims
- Ingredients
- Nutrition information
- Origin marks
- Footnotes
The three verdicts
What each answer means
Packsay pass always applies to a single claim, never to a whole product. A pack can carry several verdicts at once.
The claim on the pack is checked against the pack's own evidence, and it holds up against the published rule for that kind of claim.
Example: Morning Loaf Seeded Rye Bread claims "Source of Fibre" on the front. A "Source of Fibre" claim requires at least 3 g of fibre per 100 g, and the pack states 8.3 g per 100 g, so the claim passes.
The claim is genuine, but there's supporting detail on the pack that adds useful context to how you read it.
Example: Morning Loaf Seeded Rye Bread claims "Made with Wholegrain Rye" on the front. On the back, the ingredients list opens with wheat flour, and rye first appears three lines later.
The pack doesn't provide enough readable information to support a conclusion either way.
Example: Activia Gut Health has "GUT HEALTH" with an asterisk on the front. The asterisk points to a footnote, and the footnote isn't in the photos. So Packsay says it can't tell, rather than guessing.
Why "we can't tell" matters
A legitimate answer in its own right
It would be easy to fill a gap in the printed information with a guess. Packsay doesn't. When the pack doesn't give enough to check a claim properly, saying so plainly is more honest and more useful than guessing with confidence.