Browne, Naomi

Douglas, Frankie

Flynn, Mary

Groves, Colleen

Kerr, Maeve

Livingstone, Barbara

McCarthy, Helen

McCrorie, Tracy

O'Connor, Deirdre

O'Kane, Maria

Williams, S E

English

Ulster University's Research Portal

                      Putting calories on the menu in Ireland: evaluation of an online calorie calculator forfood businessesO'Kane, M., Kerr, M., McCrorie, T., Livingstone, B., McCarthy, H., Groves, C., Browne, N., Douglas, F., Williams,S. E., O'Connor, D., & Flynn, M. (2014). Putting calories on the menu in Ireland: evaluation of an online caloriecalculator for food businesses. Abstract from Nutrition Society Irish Section Annual Summer Meeting, Coleraine,United Kingdom.Link to publication record in Ulster University Research PortalPublication Status:Published (in print/issue): 24/09/2014General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via Ulster University's Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyrightowners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with theserights.Take down policyThe Research Portal is Ulster University's institutional repository that provides access to Ulster's research outputs. Every effort has beenmade to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content inthe Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact pure-support@ulster.ac.uk.Download date: 15/12/2022ProceedingsoftheNutritionSocietyIrish Section Meeting, 18–20 June 2014, Changing Dietary Behaviour: Physiology Through to PracticePutting calories on the menu in Ireland: evaluation of an online caloriecalculator for food businessesS.M. Kelly1, M. A. Kerr1, T. A. McCaffrey1,2, M. B. E. Livingstone1, H. McCarthy1, C. Groves1,N. Browne1, F. E. Douglas3, S. J. Williams3, D.M. O’Connor3 and M. A. T. Flynn1Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, University of Ulster, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK, 2Department ofNutrition and Dietetics, Monash University, VIC 3168, Australia and 3Public Health Nutrition, Food Safety Authorityof Ireland, Dublin 1, Republic of IrelandA key challenge to curbing excessive energy intake is the public’s significant underestimation of the calorie content of food(1). Calorielabelling on menus (CLM) has been proposed to correct misperceptions and to assist consumers with making more informed choicesat point-of-purchase. Recently, Irish consumers and food businesses (FBs) demonstrated support for CLM(2). However, FBsexpressed concerns around their lack of expertise in calculating the calorie content of foods sold and the potential costs involvedin hiring experts every time menus change. Subsequently an online calorie calculator (MenuCal) was developed by the FoodSafety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to be used by FBs who have no nutritional science background. The aim of this study was toevaluate the accuracy and ease-of-use of MenuCal.The accuracy of MenuCal was tested using recipes (n 750) reflective of those sold in FBs in Ireland. The recipes were analysed bytrained nutritionists using the MenuCal system to provide the ‘benchmarked recipes’ (ingredient weights and calories). The testing wasconducted in two phases by catering students and FBs, with refinements made to the system following phase 1 testing. For bothphases, accuracy was determined by the % difference for recipe ingredient weights and calorie content. An evaluation questionnairewas completed to assess ease-of-use.During phase 1, student participants (n 75) entered a total of 525 recipes. When compared with the benchmarked recipes, the overallmedian difference for both calories and weight was 0·5%and 0·13% respectively. Eighty-six percent and 81% of recipes differed fromthe corresponding benchmarked recipes, with the error for half of the recipes ranging from-12% to +12% for calories and −5% to+13% for weight. The differences were mainly due to portion size, selection of different ingredients (e.g. raw beef instead of cookedbeef) and typing errors (e.g. 5,000 g instead of 500 g). In phase 2, FBs (n 54) entereda further 159 recipes and the median % calorie andweight difference was zero and 1% respectively. Similar to phase 1, 89% and 87% of recipes varied from the corresponding bench-marked recipes, with the error for half of the recipes in the order of −14% to +12% for calories and −6% to +15% for weight.The main reason for the discrepancies in % calorie and weight was due to difference in portion size due to limited informationbeing provided in the recipe (e.g. 2 potatoes in the recipe rather than 150 g potatoes, i.e. portion size estimation variations).MenuCal was rated by 84% of students and 86% of FBs as an ‘easy’ to ‘very easy’ system to use. Furthermore, 88% of students and84% of FBs indicated they were ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to use MenuCal when launched. Participants requested more information oncalculating weight loss/gain on cooking, simplification of food descriptions and incorporation of branded products used in the cateringindustry to make MenuCal more user-friendly.In conclusion, MenuCal was found by FBs and catering students to be a user-friendly system for estimating the calorie content ofmenu items. The benchmarking procedure demonstrated good agreement between the trained nutritionists and participants for thecalorie content of the recipes provided. This study identified the areas where users require additional support, portion size guidanceand simpler food descriptions to increase the accuracy of MenuCal.1. Block JP, Condon SK, Kleinman K et al. (2013) BMJ, [Epub ahead of print].2. Food Safety Authority of Ireland (2012). Calories on Menus in Ireland –Report on a national consultation at: http://www.fsai.ie/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=11419Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2014), 73 (OCE2), E59 doi:10.1017/S0029665114000883https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665114000883 Published online by Cambridge University Press

Putting calories on the menu in Ireland: evaluation of an online calorie calculator for food businesses

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Putting calories on the menu in Ireland: evaluation of an online calorie calculator for food businesses

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