Case Study: Lab Comparison For Nutrition Label

Our client, a biscuit manufacturer, contacted us after their customer challenged their nutrition label. The customer had obtained laboratory results for a cracker product labelled with values obtained using NutriCalc.The % fat was 7.7% by analysis and 17.1% by calculation.We listed all possibilities for this discrepancy, however unlikely some might seem:

• Recipe entered into NutriCalc incorrectly [checked this was not the case]
• Factory using wrong recipe [checked this was not the case]
• Batch of crackers not manufactured correctly [factory paperwork checked ok]
• Sample sent to lab not actually this product [unknown]
• Error in lab [unknown]

Since everything the customer had done seemed to be correct, we recommended getting a re-test in the lab. This came out at 17.7% fat.Whilst most labs do excellent work, there is still some possibility of an error occurring occasionally. This episode actually enhanced the company’s reputation with the customer.