Top food regulations and labelling solutions compared - How to choose the best menu labelling solution for your company

Keywords: Menu Labelling, Menu Labelling Regulations, FSSAI, Allergen, Nutrition Calculations, Hotels, Restaurants And Quick Service Restaurants, Food Label, Menu Label, Nutritional Analysis

About Menu Labelling Regulations

The FSSAI (Food Safety & Standards Authority of India) recently introduced regulations that require food service establishments, including restaurants and online food sellers, to include calorie information on their menu cards by January 2022. These establishments, known as Food Service Establishments, include hotels, restaurants, quick service restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, ice cream stores, and takeaways, as well as food delivery and e-commerce food business operators.

The FSSAI regulations also mandate the inclusion of information about allergens and whether menu items are vegetarian or non-vegetarian, as well as the availability of nutrition information upon request. Some smaller establishments and certain types of food service premises, such as event caterers and self-serve condiments, are exempt from these regulations. This regulation aims to provide customers with the ability to make informed choices about the nutritional value of menu items when dining out.

To know more on Menu Labelling regulations refer blog: What you must know on the Restaurant Menu Labelling Regulations 2020 | Information Center (foodlabelsolutions.com)

Why do you need a Digital Menu Labelling Software ?

1. 100% Regulatory Compliance

A Digital Menu Labelling Software will ensure end to end regulatory compliance, putting restaurants, hotels, QSRs at ease. All regulatory requirements can be managed end-to-end from one software.

2. Comprehensive Label Management

A Digital Menu Labelling Software simplifies the labelling process, allows unlimited edits for recipes and makes the updated information available at a click. It solves for process efficiency and saves enormous amount of time compared to manual methods of maintaining excel files.

3. Enhanced Customer Trust

The Digital Menu Labelling Software allows restaurants, hotels, QSRs to share the nutrition information with their guests in a transparent manner, thus building consumer trust on the brand.

4. Real Time Compliance Solutions

The Digital Menu Labelling Software allows recipes to be created and edited within minutes. This information can be downloaded from the software in real time as food tags for display area or buffets or as ready-to-print food labels that can be be attached to your packaging and sent with the food delivery.

Let’s take a look at the Top 5 Menu Labelling Services doing recipe nutrition calculations in India.

1. FoLSol® (Food Label Solutions) by LabelBlind®

FoLSol® (Food Label Solutions) by LabelBlind® is India's 1st Digital Food Labelling Software.

The FoLSol® software calculates the recipe’s nutrition data and generates a 100% FSSAI compliant menu label for hotels, restaurants and QSRs within minutes.

The software creates digital menu labels in India, including nutrition analysis of thousands of recipes, ready-to-print food display tags and ready-for-print menu labels, along with  a digital nutrition and allergen guide enabled by a QR code.

The software is It is compliant with FSSAI regulations and can be scaled across multiple restaurants with integrations. It is not only cost effective but also very easy to use with friendly subscription plans.

Features included in the software are -

• FSSAI Compliance- The service provides compliance with FSSAI labelling regulations by offering nutrition analysis of recipes in less than 5 minutes, with all mandatory information such as a nutrition table, veg/non-veg/vegan labels, allergen information, health claims and mandatory declarations.

• 4000+ standard recipe templates that are 100% customisable. Additionally, a database of 5000+ HoReCa packed ingredients along with their nutrition information that make the recipe caluclations far more accurate.

• Being first of its kind in India, it has unique features such as recipe revision history, ready-to-print menu labels and buffet food tags, user accounts for collaborative teamwork and a digital nutrition and allergen guide with QR code.

• Simplified Processes with features such as editing and duplicating recipes, bulk excel download of menu label information, creating base recipes and packaged ingredients.

• Scalability across multiple restaurant brands in one account and add team members. You can manage multiple locations, brands and team members from a single enterprise account and do not need multiple subscriptions for multiple outlets.

• No tech integration required. Cloud based software that can be setup and used within minutes.

• Secured service with 2-factor OTP login, cloud-based digital software service and encryption to secure authentication and payment process. ISO 9001 : 2015 certified.

Missing Features –

• Limited Customisations

2. DietSoft

DietSoft is a Software for Dietary Calculations developed primarily keeping in mind the Indian Dietetic Scenario. It is built to provide for the most commonly and frequently required dietary calculation needs. It is created for Dieticians / Doctors, Nutrition Consultants, Research Scholars, Hotels and Restaurants.

Features included in the software are -

• Nutritional analysis of recipes based on Indian Date (IFCT, 2017)

• Editable Central Repository of Nutrients and their Measure Units

• Editable Central Repository of Food Items classified by Food Groups and their Nutritive Values.

• Customisable Recipes.

Missing Features –

• No packed food database for HoReCa ingredients

• Slow response time and speed

• Built for dietitians and hospital settings

To know more refer website: https://dietsoft.in/

3. Nutripedia

Nutripedia is a website that offers a nutritional analysis of recipes. It is a service offered by Equinox Labs, that enables the food industry to promote public health by giving nutritional information to clients. It is a complete tool for analyzing the nutritional content of recipes. It calculates nutritional value quickly and accurately, providing a detailed nutritional profile for recipes.

Features included in the software are -

• Nutritional analysis: Users can input a recipe and the website will calculate the nutritional information, such as calorie count, macronutrient breakdown, and vitamin and mineral content.

• Customizable serving sizes: Users can adjust the serving size of a recipe to see how it affects the nutritional information.

• Shareable results: Users can share the nutritional information of a recipe with others, either by sharing a link or by exporting the data as a PDF or CSV file.

Missing Features –

• Limited user interaction on software for recipes.

• Analysis is highly dependent on service provider.

• Nutrition analysis not available in ready to download labels.

To know more refer website: Nutripedia - Your Recipe's Nutritional Analysis App

4. Ntuitive

Ntuitive is a digital software service catering specifically to nutritionists and dieticians. It is an easy to use, all in one software offering complete management of clients for nutritionists. Developed by Fitterfly Healthtech Pvt. Ltd., it is a software that does recipe nutrition calculations well, useful to Hotels, restaurants and Quick service restaurants.

Features included in the software are -

• Nutritional analysis: The software allows users to perform nutrient calculations as per IFCT 2017 database. Conducts in-depth analysis of nutrient intake for individual food items, meals, and over extended periods of time.

• Calculations are based on pre-established standard serving sizes.

• Mobile application: The software can be accessed via mobile application.

Missing Features –

• The software is largely created for dietitians and nutritionists in hospitals and healthcare settings. Features not built for hotel, restaurant and QSRs operations.

• Nutrition analysis not available in ready to download labels.

To know more refer website: Best Nutrition Software for dietitian India (ntuitive.in)

5. TGC India

Touchpoint Gourmet Consultant (TGC), is a division of IEATS Food Concepts LLP. They provide nutritional analysis for recipes of restaurants and hotel groups since the 2000s.

This is a manual model and depends largely on the service provider. Service include -

• Source of Data- The source of data for analysis is the database and calculations provided by USDA and IFCT.

• Compliance- Analysis complies with the latest norms laid down by FSSAI for menu labelling by using nutritive values of various food products and ingredients provided scientifically backed source (USDA).

Missing Features –

• Manual model that depends on the service provider. Every recipe update requires going back to the service provider

• No software interface, hence no control of menu or recipe analysis information with the restaurant, hotel or QSRs.

• Reports provided in PDF files that are not editable and user-unfriendly.

To know more refer website: Menu Labelling and Recipe Analytics | TGC India

About LabelBlind®

Established in 2018 and based in Mumbai, LabelBlind® specialises in the area of Digitising Food Labelling and Regulatory Compliance. FoLSol® by LabelBlind® presents India’s 1st Digital Food Labelling Solution. The SaaS platform supports Food Businesses to be Labelling Compliant and Build Consumer Trust. FoLSol® by LabelBlind® is designed to strengthen the food labelling ecosystem across a wide spectrum of services including, Packed Food Labelling, Menu Labelling, Exports Labelling, Nutraceuticals and Food Supplements Labelling and Labelling for Ecommerce players. FoLSol® Digital Food Labelling Solution is fast, accurate, and cost effective. The company is ISO9001 certified in its processes.

References

1. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Regulations. Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations. Retrieved from 2020’https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/notifications/2020/12/5fd87c6a0f6adGazette_Notification_Labelling_Display_14_12_2020.pdf

2. Dietsoft. https://dietsoft.in/

3. Nutripedia. Nutripedia - Your Recipe's Nutritional Analysis App

4. Ntuitive. Best Nutrition Software for dietitian India (ntuitive.in)

5. Touchpoint Gourmet Consultant. Menu Labelling and Recipe Analytics | TGC India

6. Food Label Solutions. FoLSol. https://www.foodlabelsolutions.com/menu-labelling