EuroFIR Guideline on calculation of nutrient content of foods for food business operators

•The EuroFIR Recipe Calculation Guideline was developed for food business operators.•The Guideline is based on the EuroFIR proposed procedure for recipe calculation.•The Guideline is applicable for mandatory nutrition labelling of foods in the EU.•The Guideline is to be implemented at national level in EU states.•Calculated nutrient values are compared with values produced by analysis.

This paper presents a Guideline for calculating nutrient content of foods by calculation methods for food business operators and presents data on compliance between calculated values and analytically determined values. In the EU, calculation methods are legally valid to determine the nutrient values of foods for nutrition labelling (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011). However, neither a specific calculation method nor rules for use of retention factors are defined. EuroFIR AISBL (European Food Information Resource) has introduced a Recipe Calculation Guideline based on the EuroFIR harmonized procedure for recipe calculation. The aim is to provide food businesses with a step-by-step tool for calculating nutrient content of foods for the purpose of nutrition declaration. The development of this Guideline and use in the Czech Republic is described and future application to other Member States is discussed. Limitations of calculation methods and the importance of high quality food composition data are discussed.