Reading Your Score: What the Colors and Numbers Mean – WISEcode

Every product scanned in the WISEcode app receives a single, comparable score from 0 (the cleanest, most minimally processed foods) up through 16+ (the most aggressively ultra-processed). The score is paired with a color and a tier name — together they answer the only question that matters in the aisle: should I put this in my cart?

The five tiers at a glance

Tier	Score	Color	How often to eat
Minimal	0–3	Dark green	Daily — these are foundational foods
Light	4–6	Green	Daily — good everyday choices
Moderate	7–10	Yellow	Sometimes — fine in moderation
Ultra	11–15	Orange	Occasionally — limit how often
Super-Ultra	16+	Red	Rarely — these contain Red Flag ingredients

What goes into the score

The score is calculated from three independent inputs defined by the WISEcode Standard:

1. Ingredient processing levels

Each ingredient is assigned a Processing Level from 0 to 4. Whole foods (an apple, raw oats) are Level 0; chemically modified ingredients (hydrolyzed starches, protein isolates) are Level 3; and Red Flag ingredients (synthetic dyes, nitrates, BHA/BHT, partially hydrogenated oils, titanium dioxide) are Level 4. The base score is the weighted sum of these levels across the formulation — so one or two highly processed ingredients can move the needle dramatically.

2. Added-sugar load

If more than 20% of the product's energy comes from added sugars, the score takes an additional penalty. Each 10% of energy above the 20% threshold adds another point.

3. Red Flag triggers

Any single Level 4 (Red Flag) ingredient applies an automatic 16-point penalty, which is what pushes a product into the Super-Ultra red tier. This is binary — the dose doesn't matter; presence alone triggers it.

Reading the card in context

The score itself is the headline, but the card also shows you why the product scored that way:

Red Flag callouts name the specific ingredients that triggered a Super-Ultra rating.
Sugar indicator shows the percentage of energy from added sugars when it's above the threshold.
Ingredient count matters too — products with more than 12 ingredients can't reach the Light tier, even if every individual ingredient is benign.

What the colors mean for daily decisions

The simplest way to use the colors is the traffic-light heuristic:

Green (Minimal & Light, score 0–6): Build the bulk of your cart from these.
Yellow (Moderate, score 7–10): Fine to include, but don't make these the foundation of your diet.
Orange (Ultra, score 11–15): Treat as occasional. Look for a Better Choice alternative if one is available.
Red (Super-Ultra, score 16+): Contains at least one Red Flag ingredient. Where possible, choose a different product.

Why two similar-looking products can score very differently

Two yogurts, two cereals, two frozen pizzas — they often look identical on the front of pack but score 8 points apart. The difference usually comes down to a single Red Flag ingredient (a colorant or preservative), an added-sugar load that crosses the 20% threshold, or a swap from a whole-food ingredient to a chemically modified version (native starch vs. modified food starch, expeller-pressed oil vs. solvent-extracted oil). Scanning is the fastest way to surface those differences without reading the back of the package line by line.

Personalization (when signed in)

If you've set dietary preferences in your profile (e.g., low sugar, no synthetic colorants, dairy-free, gluten-free), the score card will also flag the specific ingredients that conflict with your preferences — even when the overall WISEcode score is low. The base WISEcode score never changes per user; the personalized callouts are layered on top of it.

For the full technical methodology, see The Standard Definition v1.0.

Confused about a score you saw in the app?

Submit a request and we'll help explain what the result means for that product.