Guide · Allergens & product safety

Is there gluten in it – and was there a recall?

Updated 13 October 2026 · 6 min read

“Is there gluten in what we bought – and wasn’t there a recall?” Bonstructer can help because it knows the item lines from your receipts: you link a line to the real product, see the details from an open product database and can ask the chat about current recalls. The package label still has the final word.

How do I tell the app who eats what at home?

In your profile you set up a household profile: adults and children (with birth years if you like), diets such as vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or lactose-free, and allergies you type in freely. The chat uses this when it suggests recipes, estimates portions or builds a week plan. In the week plan the app shows a note when a dish contains something someone is allergic to (“Contains … (allergy: …)”).

Everything in the profile is optional. Enter only what you want to use for suggestions.

How does the app know what is in a product?

A line like “MILKA ALP.MILCH 100G” is first just text from the till. When you correct a line, you can link it to the real product (brand, pack). The product card then shows, among other things, allergens and traces, diet hints, manufacturer and prices in other shops. Each product says where its details come from:

• Open Food Facts: an open product database maintained by volunteers worldwide. The data is licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL); Bonstructer credits the source in its legal notices and on the product card.
• Bonstructer catalogue: collected from manufacturer details.
• Added by users: products users have added stay in review until enough confirmations are in.
• Detected automatically: matched from the receipt text and shop.

If a product is not linked or details are missing, it reads “Allergens unknown”. That does not mean nothing is inside, only that the app does not know.

Can I mark products as gluten-free for me?

Yes. The product card has a “Gluten-free for me” mark. You set it when you know a specific product is gluten-free for your household, and you can remove it any time. The mark applies to your plans, such as the week plan, and is kept there. If the product data says the product is not gluten-free, the card also shows: “Product data says not gluten-free – your mark applies to your plans.” So the mark does not replace the product data; it is your own decision.

How do I ask whether something in my groceries is a problem?

In the chat you can ask, for example: “Does yesterday’s bread contain gluten or soy?” The app looks the product up in the product data and names declared allergens, traces and claims such as “free from …”. If you do not name any, it uses the allergies from your household profile. It states that the details come from Open Food Facts (community and manufacturer data) and are no guarantee. For products you have already bought and linked to a receipt line, the chat uses their label details rather than just the name on the receipt.

How do I find out whether a product has been recalled?

Ask in the chat, for example: “Is there a recall for the sausage I bought?” or “Which current recalls mention allergens?” The recall data comes from lebensmittelwarnung.de (German), the portal of the German federal states and the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL), via its public RSS feed. The app fetches the feed at most about once an hour and searches the most recently published recalls for your term: product, title, manufacturer or the reason for the notice (for example allergens).

For each match the answer gives the reason, manufacturer, affected federal states, best-before date and the link to the official notice. Good to know: the app does not check every new receipt against all recalls by itself, it searches when you ask. And “no match” does not mean “safe”, because the search is a text match over a limited number of recent notices.

What do pack size and price per kilo on a receipt line do?

On piece lines you can store a pack size, such as 500 g or 1 l. The app often reads it from the name on the receipt, otherwise you enter it yourself, and it is then labelled “from receipt”. From it the app works out the price per kg or per l (“= … per kg”), so you can compare packs of different sizes or shops fairly. For packaged fruit or vegetables, keep the line as pieces with a matching pack size so the count and the per-kilo price stay right.

Checklist for your next shop

• Set up the household profile with diet and allergies (optional).
• Link important receipt lines to the real product so details are available.
• If it says “Allergens unknown”, read the package instead of guessing.
• Mark gluten-free products you know for yourself.
• If in doubt, ask the chat about a recall and open the official notice yourself.
• Check the pack size so the price per kilo is right.

Receipt scanning works in the browser and in the app; tips for good photos are in the guide Scanning receipts. How recipe ideas from your groceries come about is in Recipe ideas from your groceries.