Where these numbers come from.

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Food composition data

This build is running on a small development seed, not a real food catalogue. The values exist to exercise the software and must not be used for dietary decisions.

Cooking estimates

Selected methods use nutrient retention factors from AUSNUT 2023, linked to exact food records through the AFCD Release 3 recipe file. These are modified data from Food Standards Australia New Zealand. The FSANZ copyright terms and the AFCD data user licence apply to their respective sources. FSANZ does not endorse TraceMeal.

Retention factors estimate changes in absolute nutrient amounts. Drained methods already include the modelled losses to discarded liquid; these are not subtracted twice. Added water and oil are separate ingredients. You may enter retained oil explicitly, but absorption is never guessed. The full ingredient quantity still contributes to shopping.

AFCD recipe weight changes are indicative. TraceMeal does not apply a mixed recipe’s weight change to individual ingredients. An optional measured finished batch weight supports per-100 g amounts; it does not alter total nutrients. Cooking estimates do not establish suitability for a medical condition.

Niacin reference comparisons use niacin equivalents; folate comparisons use dietary folate equivalents. Preformed niacin and natural folate remain separately available. Ratios and classification codes are excluded from additive meal totals. Earlier saved meal snapshots retain their original calculation until you explicitly edit their ingredients.

Reference targets

Targets come from the Australian and New Zealand Nutrient Reference Values, 2006 NRVs; sodium and fluoride updates incorporated in 2017. Recommended intakes (RDI/AI), upper limits (UL) and Suggested Dietary Targets (SDT) are kept separate and are never combined into a single score. Official NRV reference

Preparation and calculation basis

Amounts start with selected food records scaled by edible weight. Prepared food records are used directly; they never receive a second cooking adjustment. For supported uncooked records, you can explicitly choose a published cooking method. Unconfirmed methods and nutrients without a matching factor remain labelled ingredient estimates. Additional cooking may reduce these values.

A missing or unavailable nutrient value should not be interpreted as zero. AFCD values may be analysed, calculated, borrowed, estimated or imputed depending on the food and nutrient, so totals can under-report where a value is unavailable.

Household measures such as slices, cups and handfuls are converted using generic approximate weights. These are estimates, are marked as such, and stay editable.

Nutrient amounts do not account for bioavailability — how much of a nutrient the body absorbs depends on the rest of the meal and on the individual.

Nutrition information is for general educational use and is not personal medical advice. See Terms & disclaimer and Privacy. tracemeal is an independent project and is not endorsed by FSANZ.