New Enhancement: Updates to Nutritional Attributes (“Nutrition as Sold” & “Nutrition as Prepared”)

With this in mind we are making some changes to how Manufacturers document the nutritional information for their products. We have received feedback from Manufacturers that they want the nutritional information on their Erudus specification to align with the information found on the product's packaging, including:

• Nutritional information per 100g of the product
• Nutritional information per recommended serving of the product
• Nutritional information of the product after it has been prepared (where applicable)
• Any front of pack nutritional labelling present. After reviewing the current attributes we had available in Erudus for nutritional information and listening to customer feedback, we are pleased to announce an updated set of nutritional attributes.

What are the new updates to Nutritional Attributes?

Previously, Erudus allowed Manufacturers to document the nutritional information per 100g/ml of their food or drink product as sold. If the Manufacturer provided a recommended serving size for the product, Erudus would auto calculate the nutritional information for a serving of the product to streamline data entry. Additionally, if a product required preparation (e.g. gravy granules dissolved in water), Manufacturers could also document the nutritional information of the product after it had been prepared in accordance with their guidance.

The changes we have made separate nutritional attributes into two distinct categories, “Nutrition as Sold” and “Nutrition as Prepared”. “Nutrition as sold” still has all of the nutritional attributes per 100g/ml of the product, but we are introducing a dedicated set of attributes for the per serving nutritional information of the product as it is sold, instead of just calculating the values after the specification was published. We have still included the ability to auto calculate the per serving information in the product editor, provided the per 100g/ml attributes have been completed and a serving size has been entered. All a Manufacturer will need to do is click a button at the top of the nutritional table labelled “Calculate per Serving”, and Erudus will populate the per serving attributes automatically.

For products that require preparation (i.e. they require something else added to them before serving), the “Nutrition as Prepared” section of the product editor still has the nutritional attributes for the product after it has been prepared in line with the Manufacturer’s guidance and a new set of nutritional attributes have been added to declare the nutritional value of 100g/ml of the prepared product. Just like the “Nutrition as Sold” section of the product editor, Manufacturers are able to auto calculate the prepared product nutritional attributes by clicking the button labelled “Calculate per Prepared Serving” provided they have entered the per 100g/ml values and the prepared product serving size.

There has been no change to the mandatory attributes for the nutritional dataset, but the expansion of the nutritional dataset allows manufacturers to more clearly communicate the nutritional information about their products, should they want to.

Why have we introduced new Nutritional Attributes for the product as sold and the product as prepared?

These changes have ultimately been a result of user feedback. When Erudus was auto calculating the per serving nutritional attributes based on the serving size and the per 100g/ml nutritional attributes, some Manufacturers reported that this did not align with the nutritional information per serving on pack. This is because labelling guidance allows manufacturers to round certain nutritional attributes after a calculation has been performed. So now Erudus can do the calculation and Manufacturers have more control by being able to edit the result where rounding occurs.

Separating the nutritional information for the product as sold and as prepared also offers more clarity to Manufacturers regarding what data they are expected to enter. With this clear distinction between “Nutrition as Sold” and “Nutrition as Prepared” in the Erudus product editor, Manufacturers completing specifications will not complete nutritional attributes that aren’t related to their products which ultimately saves users time and minimises errors on specifications.

We have also received feedback from Manufacturers that they want to be able to display their front of pack traffic light nutritional information per prepared product. This wasn’t possible without these changes because the traffic light thresholds for front of pack nutritional labelling are based on the per 100g/ml nutritional values of the prepared product which was not available on a specification until these changes. By introducing 100g/ml attributes for prepared products alongside the prepared product serving, we are able to enhance what is available to manufacturers who want to display front of pack nutritional labelling outside of the 100g/ml that is currently available, so watch this space!

What are the benefits of the new Nutritional Attributes?

Auto calculation with greater controls: Manufacturers can still auto calculate their per serving nutritional information to save time while having greater granular control to apply rounding to attributes to match what is on the product's packaging

Greater clarity when completing specifications: Manufacturers will be able to more clearly distinguish between nutritional data for the product as sold vs as prepared reducing the potential for unnecessary administration when completing specifications saving them time

Laying foundations for new features: By introducing nutritional attributes per 100g/ml of a prepared product, we are able to use this data point to introduce new functionality in the future to give Manufacturers the choice of displaying front of pack nutritional information on specs for the prepared product like they do on pack.

When will the new Nutritional Attributes be available?

We will be rolling these new attributes into the data model within the next 2 weeks. A system-wide notification will be sent to Manufacturers before the changes take effect to give notice with a link to this article explaining the changes for reference.

Got questions?

The Erudus Support Team is also always on hand to answer any questions or concerns you have about our updates and features. Get in touch with them via support@erudus.com or on 0333 121 89 99.