A startup founded by a two-time Loughborough University graduate has added a food-shopping feature to its dietary information app.
Kate Alderson launched Freeater Shopping on 30 September 2026. The feature allows users to scan products and compare ingredient information with their dietary profile.
The idea for Freeater began in 2024, drawing on Alderson's family experiences with coeliac disease, food intolerances and other dietary requirements. The company says it is now based at Loughborough University's LU Inc. incubator.
From eating out to shopping
Freeater initially focused on helping people find information about eating out. Its shopping feature extends the app to packaged food, with ingredient, allergen and nutritional information.
The company says community input informed its development, including surveys, interviews and testing. It reports around 1,000 users since its public launch in May; that is a company-supplied figure, not an independently audited total.
Alderson said the scanner was intended as an additional way to find relevant information, not as a replacement for a person's own checks.
Labels still need to be checked
Freeater's current shopping page tells users to check the product label before making a purchase. Food formulations can change, so an app result should not be treated as a guarantee that a product is suitable.
This article reports the launch and the founder's local university connection. It does not assess the scanner's clinical accuracy or endorse it as a medical safety tool.
Further details about the feature and its limitations are available from Freeater’s shopping page.