guide

How it
works.

unPACKED is a receipt scanner that helps you understand which grocery brands are linked to ethical concerns and lets you decide what matters to you.

1

Scan your receipt

After your shop, open unPACKED and photograph your receipt — or upload an image from your camera roll. You can also scan supermarket app screenshots if you shop online.

Our AI reads the receipt and extracts the items, brands, and store name. No manual entry required.

💡 Works best with clear, well-lit photos. Crumpled or blurry receipts may miss some items.
2

We identify the parent companies

A tin of own-brand beans might be made by a multinational food group. A familiar soap brand could be owned by a global consumer goods company. unPACKED traces that connection so you don't have to.

unPACKED resolves the brand on your receipt to its parent company, then checks whether that parent company has any ethical flags in our database.

3

Flags appear on your items

Any item linked to a flagged company will show a coloured flag on your scan results. Tap the flag to read exactly why it's flagged. We always include the source.

Flags are based on publicly available information: boycott lists, investigative journalism, UN reports, and verified databases. We don't add flags without a cited source.

📌 Flags reflect the parent company, not always the specific product. A flagged brand doesn't mean every product they make is harmful — it means the company behind it has documented concerns.
4

Flags reflect your preferences

When you sign up, a short setup asks how much each issue matters to you - from "doesn't matter" through to "matters a lot". Issues are grouped into three areas: people & rights, planet concerns, and money & power.

Your answers shape how flags appear in your results. You can update your preferences at any time from your account page.

5

Build awareness over time

Your scan history is saved. Come back and browse past shops, see which brands keep appearing, and gradually build a clearer picture of where your money actually goes.

There's no score, no ranking, no shame. Just information.

flag types

What we flag
and why.

All flags are sourced from publicly available databases, reports, and boycott lists. Sources are cited on each flag.

Flag What it means
People & rights
🕊️ BDS boycott list The company appears on the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) boycott list. The BDS Movement publishes and maintains this list.
👶 Child labour The company has reported links to child labour in its supply chain, based on investigations or reports by bodies such as the International Labour Organisation.
⛓️ Forced labour The company has reported links to forced or trafficked labour in its supply chain.
⚙️ Working conditions The company has been linked to exploitative labour practices including unsafe workplaces, suppression of worker rights, or below-living-wage pay.
🍼 Formula marketing The company has violated WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes by aggressively or misleadingly marketing infant formula.
Planet concerns
🌊 Plastic pollution The company has been identified as a major contributor to global plastic waste by organisations such as Break Free From Plastic.
🌿 Environmental damage The company has been linked to habitat destruction, deforestation, or other significant ecosystem damage.
🐟 Fishing practices The company uses or sources from fishing methods that are destructive, unsustainable, or linked to forced labour at sea.
🐾 Animal welfare The company has been linked to poor animal welfare standards in farming, production, or product testing.
Money & power
🏦 Tax avoidance The company uses offshore corporate structures to minimise tax in the countries where it operates and generates revenue.
✊ Anti-union behaviour The company has a documented history of suppressing workers' rights to organise, including union-busting tactics.
personalising unPACKED

Your priorities,
your flags.

unPACKED is built on the principle that different things matter to different people. You might care deeply about child labour but feel neutral about plastic packaging. That's completely valid.

When you first sign up, a short setup asks how much each issue area matters to you. You set a position for each flag type — from "doesn't matter" through to "matters a lot". Your answers shape how prominently flags appear in your results.

You can review and update your preferences at any time from your account page. All underlying data is always there. Preferences only change how it's presented to you.