Introduction

Some types of foods are poor candidates for calculating the nutritional content of a recipe based on tallying the composition of the individual ingredients. Cheddar cheese is a good example of this. The raw ingredients for making cheddar cheese include milk, culture, rennet, and salt. During the process of making cheese some of the original milk is lost as whey and the rest ends up as part of the cheese. This makes it virtually impossible to determine the nutrient content of cheese without doing chemical analyses.

This being said many foods are good candidates for calculating the nutritional content of a recipe based on tallying the composition of the individual ingredients. This includes frozen desserts, baked products, soups, etc.

The Labeling section provides features for recipe entry, evaluation, and preparation of various types of nutrition facts labels. Before we cover the layout of the labeling section, Let’s consider how calculating the nutritional content of a recipe works. Creating a Nutrition Facts label in TechWizard Online™ requires the following steps.

1. Determine the necessary nutrients to display and collect ingredient data.
2. Determine the recipe.
3. Determine the serving size in grams.

How is Nutritional Content Calculated?

It is important to understand how the information in a nutrition facts is calculated. This will help you better understand why each step listed above is crucial.

Let’s consider the following ice cream recipe. Column 1 contains the ingredient names, column 2 is the percentage of each ingredient on a weight basis, and column 3 is the fat content of each ingredient. The last columns show how the contribution of each ingredient to the total fat content is calculated. For example, cream contributes 10.985 grams of fat per 100 grams of the ice cream recipe. This was calculated as follows (27.463 g Cream) x (40 g Fat / 100 g Cream) = 10.985 g fat. We simply do this same calculation for each ingredient then determine the total amount.

Table showing the fat content of an ice cream formula.

Let’s suppose our serving size is ½ cup which weights 71 grams. We could determine the fat content per serving as follows 12.097 g Fat / 100 g recipe x 71 g serving size = 8.589 g Fat.  These same types of calculations are done in TechWizard Online™ for all the nutrients.  The only other calculation involved would be applying the appropriate rounding rules found in the Code of Federal Regulations to prepare a nutrition facts.

We must stress the point that all nutrition calculations in TechWizard Online™ are based on weight. This means even if your serving size and/or equivalent metric quantity are in units of volume we must determine the recipe amounts and the serving size in units of weight.

Determining the Necessary Nutrients to Display and Collecting Ingredient Data

Most users require a standard nutrition facts. This means you will need to collect the following data shown in the table below for each ingredient that is not already in the TechWizard Online™ ingredient file. We have also added density to the list which is crucial if you will be entering and converting volume to weight.

People often wonder why they cannot find their ingredient in the TechWizard Online™ ingredient file. The composition of an ingredient can change each time a manufacturer reformulates hence the most up-to-date information from your vendor is best  This is why we always recommend our users obtain the most up-to-date information and enter it in the ingredient file.

Table showing the ingredient nutrient and units necessary to prepare a typical nutrition facts label.

Determining the Recipe Amounts and the Serving Size in Grams

This step should appear to be very straight forward. The key is to know the grams of each ingredient per 100 grams of total recipe.  You will also have to determine the serving size in grams. If the common household unit is a volume amount, then weigh this amount of the finished formula to determine the gram equivalent. Now that we have an understanding of what is required to create a nutrition facts, we will review the labeling section layout.

Labeling Section Layout

Our goal in this section is to help you understand and use the features found in the Labeling section. Below is a figure displaying the appearance of the Labeling section after running the third cultured products automated example. I suggest you run this example in TechWizard Online™ so you can review the information on your computer screen.

Click the Goto button and select Help.

In the window that appears, select either Cultured Products Automated Examples or Frozen Dessert Automated Examples from the Automated Examples group.

In the Automated Examples window click the button labeled 3. Be sure to click the Next button each time it becomes active. Once you are finished, please continue reading.

Labeling Section – Nutrition Facts Output

The figure below is the nutrition facts display for the third cultured products automated example. If you have not run the automated example, you will not see this on your screen. Instead, you will see the formula portion of the labeling section which is covered in the next section.

In the upper left-hand corner of the screen, notice the buttons (A). Pressing the Return button (A) moves the user back to the formula portion of the labeling section.

The Label Options button modifies the appearance of the nutrition facts (for example, linear, tabular, simplified, dual column, etc.). The View/Edit Declaration button displays a window for viewing and editing the ingredient declaration. If you have a complicated ingredient declaration, please refer to Ingredient Declaration – Introduction.

The Print Label button allows the user to output various parts of the Labeling section to a printer or a separate Excel file. The Notes button is how the user edits the formula notes. The Sort Declaration – High to Low button sorts the formula ingredients and their corresponding declarations based on percentage used in the formula from highest amount to lowest.

On the right-hand side is shown the nutrition facts label (B).  The calculated information shown in the nutrition facts is based on the information provided in the formula part of the Labeling section which is covered in the next section.

Labeling Section – Formula

If you are still viewing the nutrition facts, please press the Return button (A). At first glance, the formula portion of the labeling section may look complicated (see figure below). We will start in the upper left corner and work our way through the figure. In the upper left-hand corner notice the formula name and formula identification number are displayed (A). If you click in the white portion of the box, you can edit this information.  When working on your formulas, you can use whatever you like for the formula name and ID.

Just below Formula Name & ID and distributed around the screen are buttons, dropdowns, and check boxes. Each that is visible in the figure is described in a table below.  As mentioned in the previous section, the buttons duplicate the procedures found in the Labeling menu to allow faster access.

Notice that many of the cells on your screen are blue. This denotes that you are allowed to type in these cells. The other cells are protected or accessed using buttons.

On the left side of the screen notice the columns containing the ingredient reference numbers and the ingredient descriptions (B). Two columns over is the % on a weight basis of each ingredient in the formula (C). Together this constitutes the recipe.

Just to the right of the Formula Name & ID is the information necessary to create the nutrition facts. The top portion is where values are set for the common household unit and equivalent metric quantity (D). Equivalent metric quantity is the number used for all calculations. Common household unit is only used to add the appropriate text to the label. Just below this is a table that displays all the calculated values for each nutrient including the amount per serving unrounded (E) and the amount per serving after imposing the appropriate rounding as described in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (for more information on rounding rules see Nutrition Facts Rounding Rules).

Scrolling down further, we come to the New Labeling Format section. This displays all the necessary information required to calculate nutrition facts values using the 2016 labeling rules. The start of this section (F) is shown on the left side of the figure below. The user can override the following values: amount per serving (G), % ADV (H), and the % ADV in the second column of a dual column label (I).  The Clear Override button (G) removes all entered values. Further down on the right side of the figure is the cell used to enter (J) a protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCASS). This is necessary if the label is going to include a percent daily value for protein. The blue cell next to the text, “%ADV Based on” (K) allows the user to calculate the %ADV based on round or unrounded values.

Table describing the buttons, dropdowns, and check boxes in the formula part of the Labeling section.

If you scroll to the right, you will see the calculated formula density as well as a serving size calculator (A). This provides a means of estimating the density and serving size for mix with or without air incorporation (overrun). Notice that the rounding rules for the nutrients are also displayed (B).

Moving further to the right, you will see the rows of blue cells containing the composition data for each of the ingredients.  The user can temporarily change the composition values and consider how it will affect the formula. Nutrients for both the 1990 and the 2016 label are included.

If you keep scrolling to the right beyond the ingredient composition data you will see the ingredient contributions data.  This is the contribution of each ingredient to the overall formula composition.

This concludes our review of the Labeling section. The next few segments describe how to carry out various operations in the Labeling section.

Viewing the Nutrition Labeling Section

To get to the US Nutrition Labeling section, click the Goto button and select Labeling – US.

Viewing the Various Parts of the Labeling Section

The Labeling section is composed of various parts.  The following instructions describe how to quickly view them.

Viewing Ingredient Composition in a Formula

Click the View button and select Composition.

Viewing Ingredient Contributions in a Formula

Click the View button and select Contributions.

Viewing Ingredient Declaration Information in a Formula

Note – this should not be confused with editing the declaration for the formula. This feature merely displays the declaration for each ingredient.

Click the View button and select Ref #, Dec., Density.

Viewing Ingredient Density Values in a Formula

Click the View button and select Ref #, Dec., Density.