Nutrition and cost analysis for menus available – Business to Business

A world-first online recipe development site that
allows users to analyse the nutritional value of meals could
change the way in which menus and meals are developed and presented.

www.myrecipes.co.nz MenuCoster was developed by Auckland-based
menu consultancy company, Menu Du Jour, in conjunction with
Dunedin-based dietitian Amber Strong. The site offers users
such as chefs, dietitians and nutritionists, a safe and secure
environment within which they can enter recipe ingredients by
the smallest measurement whilst tracking ingredient costs, produce
availability and nutritional value.

MenuCoster also features a unique Menu Guide labeling system
which assigns meals special criteria like low sugar, gluten
free, dairy free, organic and kosher. These labels can then
be incorporated into both menu and recipe cards to be used by
both the kitchen and front of house staff.

Strong, who is currently studying towards her Masters Degree
in Nutrition at Otago University, believes food outlets and
food providers will one day be required to provide more nutritional
information on menus – particularly with the current focus on
health issues such as obesity and diabetes.

“Currently the American Congress is considering whether or not
to adopt the Menu Education and Labeling Act which would require
menus to list calories, fat, carbo-hydrates and sodium levels,”
she says. “The aim is to curb the rising cost of obesity in
the States which is estimated to be US7 billion in health care
and related costs each year. A third of Americans aged 20 plus
are obese while 15 per cent of children aged six to 19 are overweight
and unfortunately, a similar trend is occurring in New Zealand.”

The Americans have identified restaurants as playing a crucial
role in food education given they are dining out twice as much
as they were in 1970 when going out to dinner was considered
a ‘treat’.

“What we eat plays a direct role in overall wellbeing,” says
Strong, “and I am finding an increasing number of people are
struggling with restaurant menus, or finding food at the supermarket,
that meets their dietary requirements.

“MenuCoster is a great tool for those working in the area of
menu and recipe development as it not only allows them to cost
entire menus in a few hours, it also allows them to easily develop
menus that meet a wide range of dietary needs.”

Strong specialises in addressing nutrition issues for corporate
and noncorporate groups as well as the food industry. She has
a particular interest in allergy, intolerance, nutrition and
diabetes.