Kosher food scanner
PlatePal is a free kosher food scanner. Scan a product barcode and it checks the ingredients against a kosher profile and against your allergies at the same time, then shows one clear verdict. It is a screening tool that flags ingredients worth reviewing. It is not a hechsher and not a rabbinic ruling.
How it works
- Scan the barcode. The camera detects it automatically, with no shutter button.
- Search by name if the barcode is damaged, missing, or unrecognised.
- Snap the ingredients label. PlatePal reads the text on your device when a product has no data on file.
The same checks run in a browser on the web food checker if you want to look a product up before you install anything.
Why certification matters more here
Kosher status is not something an ingredient list can establish on its own. It depends on the source of each ingredient, on the equipment a product was made on, and on supervision of the production run itself. Two products with identical printed ingredients can differ in status because one was made under supervision and the other was not.
This is a genuine difference from an allergen check, where the label is the authority. For kosher observance, a reliable hechsher is the authority, and PlatePal is a way of narrowing the shelf before you look for one. Where product data records a kosher certification, PlatePal surfaces the mark and raises the verdict.
Ingredients that commonly raise a question
| Ingredient | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Gelatin (E441) | Status turns on the source animal and how it was processed. Many authorities require gelatin from kosher-slaughtered animals or kosher fish, and rulings differ on hide-derived material. |
| Rennet and enzymes | Kosher cheese requires supervision, and the coagulant is part of what supervision covers. An unmarked cheese is unresolved however the ingredients read. |
| Whey | A dairy ingredient, so it cannot be combined with meat, and its status also depends on the supervision of the cheese it came from. |
| Carmine (E120) | Derived from insects, which are not kosher. Widely treated as unacceptable. |
| Mono- and diglycerides (E471) | Built from plant oil or animal fat. Animal-derived material also raises meat and dairy separation questions. |
| L-cysteine (E920) | Source determines status. Human-hair-derived material is not acceptable to kosher authorities, and the label does not distinguish production routes. |
Meat, dairy, and pareve
PlatePal flags ingredients that make a product meat or dairy, which is what most often matters when you are checking whether something can be eaten alongside a meal you have already planned. Whey, casein, and butterfat mark a product dairy. Meat derivatives, including some gelatin and some stearates, mark it meat.
PlatePal does not assert that a product is pareve. Pareve status depends on equipment and supervision, not only on ingredients, and claiming it from a label alone would be exactly the kind of false confidence this app is built to avoid.
A worked example
You keep a kosher profile and you also avoid tree nuts. You scan a packaged cheese cracker. The ingredients list enzymes, whey, and no kosher mark.
- Allergen check: no tree nuts declared, but the product carries a may contain statement for tree nuts.
- Kosher check: whey makes it dairy, and the coagulant behind it is undisclosed. With no hechsher, the status is unresolved.
- Combined verdict: Concerns found, with the allergen advisory and the missing certification both shown as reasons.
Two requirements, one scan, and the reasons stay visible so you can decide which one actually rules the product out for you.
What PlatePal cannot determine
Known limits
- Whether a production run was supervised, which is the central question and is not an ingredient fact.
- Whether equipment was shared with non-kosher production.
- Pareve status, for the reasons above.
- Whether a specific hechsher meets your community standard.
- Bishul, pas, and other requirements that depend on how food was prepared rather than what is in it.
- Passover status, which follows a separate set of rules entirely.
When any of these apply, PlatePal returns Insufficient data instead of guessing.
Honest about certainty
Every verdict shows what it rests on: Certified, Likely OK, Concerns found, or Insufficient data. Verify with your rabbi or certifying authority when it truly matters. PlatePal narrows the shelf. It does not rule.
Allergen alerts stay free
All allergen and gluten detection is free for everyone and is never placed behind the paywall. See the allergen scanner for the full coverage. Premium adds profile stacking for households, unlimited scans, and compliant-alternative suggestions, never safety.
Private by default
No account is needed to start, and PlatePal runs no advertising trackers. Signed out, your profiles and allergens stay on your device. Read the privacy policy for what syncs when you sign in.
See the full list on supported diets and allergens, browse the ingredient guide, read the FAQ, or compare with Yuka and Fig.