Overview
This article covers all the recommended steps for setting up Nutritional data for Ingredients.
Data Input Options
There are several ways that Nutritional data can be added.
- Manual entry when setting up an Ingredient
- By referencing a value in one of the 4 linked Nutrition databases:
- McCance & Widdowson - UK default
- USDA - USA default
- NUTTAB - Australian default
- NMES (Non-milk Extrinsic Sugars)
- Via the Excel Nutrition Export/Import tool. For details see: RME: Ingredient Nutrition Import Tool
- Via the Fourth APIs - please liaise with your Fourth contact to find out more
Options 1 & 2 are explored in more detail below.
Ingredient Setup Requirements
Alongside standard Ingredient setup, the requirements for Nutrition are:
- Product Type: Food Item
- Nutritional Values
- Supply Quantity: Weight
- Wastage (optional but recommended)
Product Type: Food Item
- When creating a new Ingredient, select its Details tab
- Use the Product Type drop-down and select Food Item
- Continue creating the Ingredient - see RME: Ingredients for more information
Once this selection is made and the Ingredient is saved, it cannot be changed. Other values can be edited after an Ingredient has been created.
Non-Food ingredients do not have Nutrition options available, nor do they impact any recipes that they are contained in. Non-Food should be selected for "Ingredients" used in recipes that have no nutritional values, e.g. packaging.
Fig.1 - Selecting 'Food Item'
Nutritional Values
- When creating or editing an Ingredient, go to the Nutrition tab, where the Nutritional Values will display
- Select a Nutrition View and then enter values for each Nutrition type based on 'per 100g' values
Fig.2 - Entering Nutrition values
These fields are not mandatory but in order for a Recipe's Nutritional values to calculate, all corresponding Nutrition types for its Ingredients must be entered. For example, every Ingredient in a Recipe must have a value for Energy (kcal) for that Nutritional data to be calculated.
- Where the following optional fields are enabled, values can be entered here also:
- Data Source
- Source Info
- Cooked State
Fig.3 - Full Nutrition view
Please note: these 3 values are simply held against an Ingredient for reporting purposes and have no impact on calculations
Supply Quantity: Weight
- Go to the Supply Details tab of the Ingredient
- A weight value must be entered as either the Supply Quantity or as a Supply Quantity Conversion (converts to)
Fig.4 - Supply Quantity/Conversion
Without a weight value assigned, the system cannot determine the Nutritional values of a Recipe. A setting can be applied to make weight a mandatory requirement during Ingredient setup - liaise with your Fourth representative to have this done.
Wastage
- This is also entered on the Supply Details tab of an Ingredient
- Where an ingredient has a fixed wastage amount, this should be captured at the ingredient level to ensure accurate nutrition calculations
A good example of this is a tin of olives in brine. Whilst the brine counts towards the overall weight of the product, it is not actually utilised in Recipe builds, and is treated as wastage.
Fig.5 - Wastage
- For customers using Fourth’s Inventory solution, more detailed information on wastage can be found here: RME: Ingredient-Level Wastage (for Inventory Customers)
- For customers not using Fourth’s Inventory solution, please see here: RME: Ingredient-Level Wastage
Nutrition Databases
- To import data from one of the 4 linked databases, go to the Nutrition tab of an Ingredient and select [import nutritional information]
- Select the required Nutrient Database and filter by Food Group if required
- Search for the required Ingredient
- Select the Ingredient you would like to import nutritional data for and then Next
Fig.6 - Linked Nutrition database search
- Select to import the optional wastage data where applicable
- Select Finish
The Nutritional data will then be applied to the Ingredient, with the reference detailed on the Nutritional Values tab
Fig.7 - Linked Nutrition database reference
To further explore and activate any of the options detailed within this article for your solution please contact your Fourth representative.
Related Articles
RME | Nutrition 3 - Recipe Setup
RME | Nutrition 4 - Nutritional Data Display & Output
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