Nutrition Analysis refers to the process of determining the nutritional content of food. The FDA requires food manufacturers to display nutrition information on food products with Nutrition Fact Panel Labels, and now various local and state laws require restaurants to display nutrition information for their menu items.

In the world of nutrition analysis there are two ways to calculate the nutritional content of a food sample; chemical, and by calculation. Chemical analysis must be performed in a lab where food is incinerated and tested for its exact nutrient content. Analysis via calculation involves taking data from ingredients that have been previously chemically tested and scaling those ingredients to match the amounts used in the final food product.

There are a number of reasons to do nutrition analysis for your restaurant's menu items: Compliance with local and state laws, general increasing consumer awareness, and marketability in providing your customers with valuable information.

Compliance. With an ever expanding list of local and state laws that have been enacted or are considering legislation for mandatory nutrition information disclosure in restaurants, there is no better time to comply then now. In addition, a national nutrition disclosure law called the Labeling Education and Nutrition (LEAN) ACT is being created to standardize menu labeling across the country.

Awareness. Our own study found that 62% of restaurants surveyed with 15 or more units provided some or all of their nutrition information on their websites. As more multi-unit restaurants start complying with menu-labeling laws and general concerns about healthy dining increase, consumer demand for nutrition information has also increased. In another study done by the National Restaurant Association’s 2009 Industry Forecast, researchers found that three in four adults say they are trying to eat healthier now at restaurants than they did two years ago.

Marketability. Providing nutrition information provides a level of marketability that may allow you to reach out to new customers. Many of our customers have chosen to select several healthy menu items from their menus to provide nutrition information. This provides their customers with options for healthy dining and convey a sense of nutritional responsibility. A study performed by the University of Missouri found that customers were willing to pay up to $2 more per menu item for healthier menu items when nutrition facts were presented.

Because chemical testing is so tedious and costly, many companies like FoodCALC have taken advantage of analysis by calculation and have created tools to help streamline this process. These tools have been shown to generate very similar results to those from laboratories.

While almost similiar in results, lab analysis is considerably more expensive then database analysis. Excluding the cost of packing and sending a sample to the labs, analysis labs will generally charge several hundred dollars to perform analysis for just one menu item. With database analysis, costs are dramatically reduced; using the MenuCalc® analysis system will cost as low as $35 per recipe.

So what do you need to get started on nutrition analysis? Here are a few things you'll need to gather before you start using MenuCalc®, or any other database analysis methods:

*Ingredients

You will need to know or have access to the details of each ingredient, for example:

• Vegetable Oil - what kind? (corn, soybean, safflower, ..)
• Beef - what cut? is the fat trimmed? is it on or off the bone?
• Flour - bleached or unbleached? enriched or unenriched? all purpose, cake, or whole wheat?

*Ingredient Quantities

• How much of each ingredient is being used?
• Weights are always the best measure (i.e. grams, oz, lbs), volumes are okay (i.e. cup, tsp, Tbl).
• Do not use subjective measurements that may vary among cooks (i.e. punch, handful, splash).

*Portion Size

• How much will be served to each guest?
• You will be able to enter in serving size by weight or by number of servings per recipe.

*Fried Items

The amount of oil absorbed during frying. The best way to get this information is to weight the cooking oil before frying and after frying. You can assume the difference to be the amount absorbed by the product.

*All Ingredients

Make sure you go through your recipes and look for hidden ingredients. For example:

• Butter on a bun.
• Baked items rolled in seeds or oats.
• Olive oil drizzled over pizza.
• Sauces

*Specialty Ingredients

Ingredients not found in the MenuCalc® database will need to be added with their nutrition facts. This can be gathered from the nutrition facts panel on the product, or by contacting the ingredient supplier.

As nutrition awareness increases throughout the country; local cities, counties, and states are quickly enacting mandatory nutrition disclosure laws. Make sure to know which laws may be affecting you and how. Most laws will only affect multi-unit restaurants and some may require only disclosure of certain information. You can see the different menu-labeling laws around the country on our frequently updated Menu Labeling page here.