Skip to main content

Why do two similar products have very different WISEcode scores?

Matt Stramel
Updated

Source: The WISEcode Standard v1.0, Sections 4, 5, and 6.

The short answer

Because the Wc-UPF score is calculated from the actual ingredients — not from the category of food a product belongs to. Two yogurts, two cereals, or two crackers can sit next to each other on the shelf and end up in completely different tiers because one uses simpler ingredients, less added sugar, or none of the ingredients on the Unique Ingredients of Concern list.

The three things that drive the difference

Per Section 6 of the Standard, every product's score is built from three inputs:

  1. The processing level of each ingredient (Section 4). Each ingredient is mapped to Level 1, 2, 3, or 4 and contributes a weight of 0, 1, 2, or 3 to the score.
  2. The Sugar Penalty (Section 5.4). An extra 0 to 7 points based on what percentage of calories come from added sugar.
  3. The SUPF Trigger (Section 6.3). A flat +16 penalty if any Level 4 / Unique Ingredient of Concern is present.

A real-world comparison

Imagine two strawberry yogurts on the same shelf:

Yogurt A — Cultured milk, strawberries, cane sugar, pectin.

  • Ingredient weights: 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 = 2
  • Sugar penalty (about 18% energy from added sugar): 0
  • No UIC present.
  • Final score: 2 — Light (actually borderline Minimal).

Yogurt B — Cultured milk, sugar, strawberries, modified starch, natural flavor, Red 40, potassium sorbate.

  • Ingredient weights: 0 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10
  • Sugar penalty (32% energy from added sugar): 2
  • Red 40 is a Level 4 / UIC: +16
  • Final score: 28 — Super-Ultra (this is the published worked example from Section 6.4 of the Standard).

Two yogurts. Same shelf. Same flavor on the label. One is Light, the other is Super-Ultra.

What that tells you when you're shopping

  • A short ingredient list usually beats a long one — but the specific ingredients matter more than the count.
  • Added sugar can push a product up a tier on its own.
  • A single ingredient on the UIC list (often a synthetic color or preservative) can push a product up two tiers in a single step.

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.