Source: The WISEcode Standard v1.0, Sections 2.1–2.3.
What the Standard is for
Section 2.2 lists the intended applications:
- Pre-packaged foods and beverages sold in retail environments
- Ingredient databases used for nutritional research
- Reformulation benchmarks for food manufacturers
- Consumer-facing nutritional guidance applications
- Government (national and state) definitions of food processing levels
What it is not for
Per Section 2.3, the Standard applies "exclusively to the categorization of general consumer food products based on their level of processing." Several categories are excluded because their "formulation requirements, regulatory frameworks, or intended uses differ fundamentally from general consumer foods."
The excluded categories
Specialized medical and infant nutrition (Section 2.3.1)
- Infant formula — products intended for infants aged 0–12 months as a partial or sole source of nutrition.
- Medical foods — foods formulated to be consumed or administered enterally under physician supervision for the dietary management of a disease or condition (for example, enteral formulas or prescribed meal replacements).
Non-food consumables and supplements (Section 2.3.2)
- Dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, herbs, and their preparations regulated as supplements rather than foods.
Animal feed (Section 2.3.3)
- Any food, feed, or supplement intended for pets, livestock, or other animals.
Unpackaged raw commodities (Section 2.3.4)
- Fresh produce (fruits, vegetables, fungi), meats, or seafood sold unpackaged and without further processing.
Why these are excluded
Each category is governed by distinct regulatory regimes and serves a fundamentally different purpose. Applying a processing score to an infant formula, a prescribed medical food, or a fresh apple would produce a misleading result because those products are not "general consumer packaged foods" — the population the Standard is designed to evaluate.
What this means in the WISEcode App
If you scan a product that falls into an excluded category, you may see a notice that the WISEcode Standard does not apply, rather than a numeric Wc-UPF score.
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