Approved Food UK Scraper

Scrape public ApprovedFood.co.uk product data for discount grocery monitoring, deal analysis, and stock tracking.

The actor collects product names, brands, prices, RRP savings, stock quantity, best-before dates, image URLs, and product URLs from Approved Food categories, searches, and storefront URLs.

What does Approved Food UK Scraper do?

Approved Food UK Scraper extracts structured product records from ApprovedFood.co.uk.

It is built for public catalog data that shoppers can see in the storefront.

Use it to monitor changing clearance grocery prices, track branded product availability, and build repeatable discount-retail datasets.

The actor uses the public storefront API, so it is faster and cheaper than a browser scraper.

Who is it for?

• 🛒 UK grocery analysts tracking discount-retail price movement.
• 💷 Deal aggregators looking for price drops and high-savings products.
• 🏷️ CPG brands monitoring how their products appear in clearance channels.
• 📦 Resellers and buyers checking low-cost stock opportunities.
• 📈 Ecommerce teams benchmarking savings, stock depth, and product mix.

Why use this actor?

• HTTP-only extraction keeps runs fast and inexpensive.
• Search and category inputs support both broad and targeted workflows.
• Output includes current price, RRP, saving amount, and saving percentage.
• Product URLs and image URLs make downstream review simple.
• Stock quantity and best-before fields help users prioritize urgent deals.

What data can I scrape?

Field	Description
name	Product display name
brand	Brand name when available
category	Default category from Approved Food
currentPrice	Current Approved Food selling price
rrpPrice	Recommended retail price
savingsAmount	Difference between RRP and current price
savingsPercent	Percentage saving versus RRP
stockQuantity	Available stock after reserved quantity
availability	in_stock or out_of_stock
bestBeforeDate	Best-before date when provided
size	Pack size or unit text
barcode	Product barcode when provided
imageUrl	Product image URL
productUrl	Approved Food product page URL
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp for the extraction

How much does it cost to scrape Approved Food products?

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing.

You pay a small start fee per run and a per-product fee for each saved dataset row.

Because the actor calls the JSON storefront API directly, it does not need browser compute for normal use.

For a first test, keep maxItems at 100 or lower.

How to use Approved Food UK Scraper

1. Open the actor on Apify.
2. Add one or more search terms, category slugs, or Approved Food URLs.
3. Set maxItems to your desired result count.
4. Run the actor.
5. Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or via API.

Input options

Search terms

Use searchTerms for targeted product discovery.

Examples:

• coffee
• chocolate
• protein
• pasta
• cleaning

Category slugs

Use categorySlugs for category monitoring.

Examples:

• groceries
• drinks
• household
• beauty
• baby
• pets

Start URLs

Use startUrls when you already have ApprovedFood.co.uk URLs.

The actor supports category URLs and product URLs.

Product URLs are converted into targeted searches so matching product rows can be saved from the API.

Example input

{
  "searchTerms": ["coffee", "chocolate"],
  "categorySlugs": ["groceries"],
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/groceries" }],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeChildCategories": true,
  "includeOutOfStock": false,
  "sortBy": "priority"
}

Example output

{
  "id": 40051384,
  "productId": 195091,
  "name": "Nescafe Dolce Gusto Latte Macchiato Coffee Pods 8 Servings",
  "brand": "Nescafe",
  "category": "groceries",
  "currentPrice": 4,
  "rrpPrice": 5.35,
  "savingsAmount": 1.35,
  "savingsPercent": 25.23,
  "stockQuantity": 563,
  "availability": "in_stock",
  "bestBeforeDate": "2025-07-31",
  "size": "8 Servings",
  "barcode": "7613037505641",
  "imageUrl": "https://cache.cdn.approvedfood.co.uk/product/195091/?width=600&height=600&webImage=true",
  "productUrl": "https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/product/40051384-nescafe-dolce-gusto-latte-macchiato-coffee-pods-8-servings/.",
  "sourceType": "search",
  "sourceValue": "coffee",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-07T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Tips for better results

• Start with one category and maxItems 100 for a quick baseline.
• Use search terms for brand or product-family tracking.
• Enable child categories when you want full category coverage.
• Disable child categories for a narrower category-only view.
• Keep out-of-stock products disabled unless you are measuring unavailable inventory.

Integrations

Use this actor in recurring workflows:

• Save daily Approved Food prices to Google Sheets.
• Alert a Slack channel when savings exceed a threshold.
• Feed product records into a deal newsletter pipeline.
• Compare current prices with previous Apify dataset snapshots.
• Join barcodes with internal CPG or reseller product catalogs.

API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/approved-food-uk-scraper').call({
  searchTerms: ['coffee'],
  maxItems: 100
});
console.log(run.defaultDatasetId);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')
run = client.actor('automation-lab/approved-food-uk-scraper').call(run_input={
    'searchTerms': ['coffee'],
    'maxItems': 100,
})
print(run['defaultDatasetId'])

cURL

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~approved-food-uk-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"searchTerms":["coffee"],"maxItems":100}'

MCP usage

Use the Apify MCP server with Claude Desktop or Claude Code.

MCP URL:

https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/approved-food-uk-scraper

Claude Code setup:

$claude mcp add apify-approved-food --transport http "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/approved-food-uk-scraper"

Claude Desktop JSON config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify-approved-food": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/approved-food-uk-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Scrape 100 Approved Food coffee products and summarize the biggest savings."
• "Monitor the groceries category and list products with more than 50% savings."
• "Find Approved Food chocolate products with stock above 50 units."

Data quality notes

Approved Food product availability can change quickly.

The actor records scrapedAt so you can compare snapshots over time.

Stock quantity is calculated from quantity minus reserved quantity when both values are available.

Savings are calculated from RRP and current sale price.

Limitations

The actor scrapes public storefront data only.

It does not log in, add products to baskets, reserve stock, or access private account data.

If Approved Food changes its storefront API, the actor may need an update.

Legality

This actor is designed for public product catalog data.

Users are responsible for complying with Apify terms, Approved Food terms, and applicable law.

Do not use extracted data for spam, fraud, or any activity that violates platform rules.

FAQ

Does this actor need a proxy?

No proxy is required for normal public API access.

Can it scrape product detail pages?

The actor saves product URLs and product fields returned by the storefront API. It does not use a browser to render detail pages.

Why are some categories empty?

Approved Food inventory changes often. Try enabling child categories or using a broader category slug.

Why is bestBeforeDate missing?

Some product records do not include a best-before date.

Troubleshooting

If you get no results, check that your category slug is valid.

If search results look broad, use more specific terms such as brand plus product type.

If you need all storefront products, leave search terms, category slugs, and start URLs empty and set maxItems to the desired limit.

Related scrapers

Other Automation Lab actors that pair well with this workflow:

• https://apify.com/automation-lab/hotukdeals-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/dealabs-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/google-shopping-scraper
• https://apify.com/automation-lab/website-contact-finder

Changelog

Initial version extracts Approved Food product rows from the public storefront API.

Support

If the actor stops returning expected fields, open an issue on Apify with your input and run ID.

Dataset export

Apify datasets can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, RSS, or HTML.

Use the dataset API for scheduled pipelines and dashboards.

Monitoring workflow

Run the actor daily with the same input.

Compare prices, stock, and savings against yesterday's dataset.

Trigger alerts when a target product or brand appears.

Buyer workflow examples

A reseller can watch groceries for deep discounts.

A CPG analyst can monitor branded clearance products.

A deal editor can search for chocolate, coffee, and household staples before publishing a daily roundup.