Fed up with weak country-of-origin labelling laws that leave them with near meaningless information, a new generation of consumers are increasingly arming themselves with mobile apps to help them buy the healthiest, safest and most sustainable products.

Some apps simply pull information from the web, but a new wave of barcode-scanning ones are giving consumers increasing power and intensifying pressure on companies to provide more information at a level never seen before.

The latest scan-the-barcode app is called Glow, a one-stop feedback channel for consumers to send gripes, praise and questions to product makers and sellers.

But the unfolding hepatitis A outbreak, which has so far seen 27 Australians contract the disease after eating Patties Foods frozen berries from Chile and China, spurred Glow founder Tim Clover to re-craft it so that companies can send real-time production and sourcing information to users – if they choose to.

Food companies have long argued that providing detailed labelling is a hard and costly task because of supply chain complexities and seasonal variations, while reaping the financial benefits of using obscure and vague claims.

Clover, a former director of retail analytics at advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, says Glow's ability to digitally stretch labels means companies have no excuse to not share up to date information on where a product is sourced, packaged and manufactured.

"It should be easier for people to connect with every brand in their pantry directly, whether that's for more information, to contact customer care or for real-time 'need to know now' information such as product recall announcements and warnings," he says.

"Brands have told us that when people en masse adopt Glow, that they will sign up to it. People can demand for this information."

The public outcry over weak country-of-origin labelling laws in the wake of the frozen berries health crisis triggered Prime Minister Tony Abbott in late February to announce a new ministerial taskforce would present a new labelling framework to cabinet before the end of March.

Consumer advocacy group Choice applauded the move, saying: "The last thing we need is another flawed and confusing country of origin framework that does nothing more than polish up the status quo."

Another scanner app launched in February is called OpenLabel. A shopper scans a barcode and views "labels" attached to the product to find out about the possible use of genetically modified ingredients, the company's environmental track record or its animal welfare policy.

The user can also post and share their own labels. For example, the Rainforest Action Network has "labelled" a Kellogg's granola bar with information about the company's new commitments to reduce its impact on the environment.

OpenLabel was created using half a million dollars in seed capital from executives at Google, Amazon and Facebook. It claims to have indexed more than 20 million products and created more than 100,000 "labels" via crowdsourcing.

Its chief executive Scott Kennedy, speaking from his San Francisco base, says the app is a "game changer" for consumers and brands alike. The app's focus is on food, but will soon shift to beauty and health products.

"It literally flips the power dynamic 180 degrees because for a long time all the power has rested with the corporations which used to spread their message through advertising and on the product itself," he says.

"Now consumers have technology that enables them to quickly and easily exchange information, making it difficult for a brand to maintain full control over how a product's perceived."

It is a trend that retailers are well aware of and preparing for. Supermarket giant Woolworths is gearing up to to serve Generation Alpha, those now aged six and under, in the year of 2034.

In the Future of Fresh report [PDF 3.4MB], released in August 2014, it says: "Mobile devices and personalised shopping apps will guide Gen Alpha's supermarket choices based on what they like to eat, what's their lifestyle and what matches their dietary requirements."

And it seems food manufacturers are also enthused by the latest app developments. The industry's peak lobby, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, says it is proactive in the "extended labelling" area, helping supply chain management non-profit GS1 Australia launch the GoScan app in 2013.

All the information on GoScan is supplied by the brand owners, meaning consumers can be assured of the accuracy. The industry does not promise to fill the gaps, but it is willing to listen and provide what it can.

"Extended labelling provides a feedback loop which puts us in a position where you as a consumer can scan the barcode, come back to us and say I want to know whether it has a specific certification or where its ingredients are sourced and that we can track the information and send it back to you," said the council's spokesman James Mathews.

The app is also a boon for allergy suffers and those with special dietary needs.

"GoScan has an alert function which is important for anyone with any special dietary problems or food allergies as well as consumers who have particular concerns when making their purchasing decisions."

Maria Palazzolo, chief executive of GS1 Australia, the guardian of barcodes in the country, says food giants such as Sanitarium and Nestle have gone "over and above" the minimum data requirements, but concedes companies cannot be pressured into giving more.

The most commonly scanned products using the GoScan app since it was launched are Burragumbilli Organic Lager, Golden Crumpets, Kraft Vegemite and Burgen Rye bread, GS1 data shows.

Internationally, apps such as Buycott, which alerts a shopper when a product conflicts with a cause they care about, are gathering speed and attention, are also threatening to shake up the traditional consumer-brand relationship.

Despite the hype, Gary Mortimer, senior marketing lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, believes grocery customers may feel overwhelmed by all the information.

Instead, barcode scanning apps are best suited to particular grocery categories, such as seafood, over-the-counter medication, and fresh and frozen produce, where concerns about health and safety are heightened, he says.

"In a supermarket situation I think it's a very quick, low involvement, habitual purchase. I don't think people are going to stop and scan all the information they select to find this information," he says.

"There is a risk in providing too much information, because the whole thing becomes quite cumbersome and we know that consumers are time-poor."

Five Top Scanner Apps

Glow:  Scanner app that allows shoppers to send instant feedback to product makers and retailers. A platform for extended labelling - where country-of-origin, ingredient, and supply chain data can be updated by manufacturers in real -time. Also an alerts system for undeclared allergens and recalls. Launched in February, but 1a million products registered.

GS1 GoScan: A scan-the-barcode app powered by supply chain management non-profit GS1 Australia, which, with the thumbs-up from Australian Food and Grocery Council, provides users with data from brand owners such as Kellogg's, Nestle and Unilever. New products added daily. Allergen, country of origin, and halal and kosher certification data displayed.

OpenLabel: An app backed by Amazon, Google and Facebook executives, launched by a for-profit outfit in February. Shoppers can scan a barcode and view crowd-sourced "labels" showing relevant environmental, social, health and safety data. More than 20 million products indexed and 10,000 "labelled". Active users include aid agency Save the Children.

Foodswitch: The fruit of three years of research by George Institute for Global Health and insurance giant Bupa, the Foodswitch scanner app serves up easy-to-interpret nutritional data for most packaged food in grocery stores. "SaltSwitch" and "GlutenSwitch" modes available. Products rated either with traffic light labelling or Health Star Rating system.

Buycott: An ethical shopping app that traces a product to the top parent company and cross-checks whether it conflicts with the user's stated concerns, such as GMO labelling and labour rights. For example, scanning Splenda low-calorie sweetener will show its parent, McNeil Nutritionals, is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.