NutriCalc vs Analysis
- David F. Bartley
- March 24, 2020
- 9:25 am
Are you aware that calculation is a recognised method for nutrition labelling?
In the current climate, amidst uncertainty and reduced services, it may be difficult to send physical samples for laboratory analysis for your products.
There is, in fact, a faster and cheaper alternative.
So how does NutriCalc compare with laboratory analysis?
Analysis can be applied to nearly all foods (exception: for products that need a very accurate carbohydrate value where analysis probably won’t give the precision needed).
But it is expensive and can be very slow. Samples of your food will need to be made and sent to a lab. This makes analysis impractical for the recipe design stage.
The precision of food analysis is limited: results will rarely be ‘spot-on’. Also, however good the lab and the methods used, they are at the mercy of the people making or taking the samples. If the sample you send to a lab isn’t very typical of your product, (i.e. isn’t an average sample), you might as well not bother. And, although not that common, mistakes can occur in the lab.
Nutrition Calculation can be used for most foods*
NutriCalc is quick and requires no samples, so it is ideal for product development. For designing healthier recipes, NutriCalc gives the contributions of each nutrient to the total, thus making recipe adjustments easy and enabling you to achieve target levels before production.
*Notable exceptions: deep-fried foods, fermented products, and a small number of others
But what about accuracy?
At NutriCalc we believe that there are three golden rules:
- Apply only to suitable food processes (e.g. not deep fried)
- Use good, accurate data
- Avoid human error (checking should be a routine)
