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Create a raw material – Overview

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Foodworks.online Support Team

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This article steps you through how to create a raw material. This article is also available as a video tutorial, click to play below. 

Video Tutorial

A raw material is a custom ingredient, generally sourced from an external supplier, for which you have nutrient values from the supplier's product specification sheet or commissioned analyses. Once created, like other resources, the raw material appears in the navigation pane.

Raw materials can be any of the following types – simple ingredient, compound ingredient, reconstituted ingredient, additive, processing aid and inedible component.

Raw material Screen_Shot_2023-01-03_at_2.24.52_pm.png A basic ingredient for which you supply the nutrition information, for example, from its specification sheet, commissioned analyses or a similar reference food.

Note: Raw materials versus recipes

Raw materials are different to recipes and sub recipes in that you need to supply their nutrition information – either from the supplier's product specification or by drawing on a reference food provided in Foodworks. In contrast, for recipes and sub recipes, Foodworks calculates their nutrition information using their ingredients.

Information for a raw material

Here is the information you need to create a raw material:

  • Nutrition information
    You can source the nutrition information for the raw material from the supplier’s product specification sheet, from commissioned analyses, or from a similar reference food supplied in Foodworks. 

  • Declaration type
    The type of ingredient affects the information you need to provide and how the ingredient is declared on your labels. For more information, see Declaration types below.

  • Specific data for the selected type
    For different types of ingredients, additional data is needed. For more information, see Declaration types below.

  • Label declaration name
    This is the name you wish to display for this raw material in ingredient statements on labels.

  • Presence of any allergens
    You can source the allergen information for the raw material from the supplier's product specification sheet.

  • Data for calculating Country of Origin
    For how to work with country of origin labelling, see Generating Country of Origin Labels. 
  • Data for calculating Health Star Ratings
    Health Star Ratings are voluntary. For how to work with HSRs, see Generating Health Star Ratings.

Create the raw material

To create a new raw material

  1. Open or create a workspace.
  2. On the sidebar, click Resources.
  3. In the navigation pane, click New and select Raw material.
  4. On the General tab, enter the name of the raw material. This is your internal name.

The new raw material appears in the navigation pane. To complete entering data for the raw material, click each of its tabs in turn (General, Nutrients and Measures), and work through the fields from top to bottom.

Enter information on the General tab

To enter the general information for the raw material:

  1. Click the General tab.
  2. From the Label declaration dropdown, select the type of label declaration for the ingredient.
    By default, Simple ingredient is selected for you. For more information, see Declaration types below.
  3. Enter optional information as desired. See Optional information below.

Declaration types

Here are the ingredient declaration types. Some types require you to enter extra information. When you select the type, extra fields appear on the General tab, as shown below:

Simple ingredient

A basic ingredient which itself has only one ingredient, for example, potato. Fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and oils fall into this category.

  • Declaration name – Enter the declaration name for use in product labels.

Compound ingredient

An ingredient or a food that is itself made from two or more ingredients.

  • Declaration name – Enter the declaration name for use in product labels.
  • Statement (>5%) – Enter the ingredient statement (available on the product specification sheet).

Generally, when a compound ingredient contributes less than 5% of the ingoing weight of the final recipe, the compound ingredient statement does not need to be included in the final recipe ingredients list. However, if the compound ingredient contains an additive or an allergen, these must be declared no matter how small the amount. The easiest way to ensure compliance is to choose the Same as above option.

Reconstituted ingredient

An ingredient that is reconstituted with water when used, for example, juice from concentrate. 

  • Declaration name – Enter the declaration name for use in product labels.
  • Statement (>5%) – Enter the ingredient statement (available on the product specification sheet).
  • Rate – Enter the ratio at which this raw material will be reconstituted. For example, to dilute 1 litre of the raw material with 4 litres of water enter 4:1. 

The reconstitution rate set indicates how much water the reconstituted ingredient can absorb before it is fully reconstituted. To ensure your ingredient reconstitutes, you must also add any water used for reconstitution as an ingredient to the recipe where the reconstituted ingredient is used.

Additive

A substance added to a food product to improve the taste, texture or appearance of a food. Or to improve the quality or stability of a food to increase shelf life. 

  • Additive class – Enter the additive class the food additive falls into. For more information see Schedule 7 of the Food Standards Code. 
  • Additive name – Enter the additive name or additive code as it will be declared in the ingredients list. For more information see Schedule 8 of the Food Standards Code. 

Processing aid

A substance used in the processing or course of manufacture of a food product, but is not consumed as a food by itself. Processing aids are only declared in the ingredients list when an allergen is present. 

Inedible component

An ingredient that may be used in the recipe of a food product, but is not edible to the consumer, for example, bay leaves. Inedible components are not declared in the ingredients list. 

Optional information

The optional fields on the General tab are:

  • ID – Assign a searchable ID number.
  • ID 2 – Assign an alternative searchable ID.
  • Tags – To add a tag(s) for organising and searching for this resource, hover over the field, and click Add resource tag.
  • Ingredient group – Create a new, or choose from the list, ingredient group you wish to declare on the label. For more information, see About ingredient groups. 
  • Description – Add a description of your raw material.
  • Notes – Add notes about the raw material. 

Add the nutrients

You can get the nutrition information for the raw material from an external source, such as the supplier’s product specification sheet or commissioned analyses. Or you can base the raw material on a similar reference food supplied in Foodworks.

You can also use a mixed approach, basing the nutrition information on a reference food, and then overriding those nutrient values for which you have more specific data available.

To enter nutrient values from an external source

  1. Click the Nutrients tab.
  2. In the Overrides column, enter the value for the nutrient (per 100g).

To base the nutrient values on a reference food in Foodworks

  1. Click the Nutrients tab.
  2. Beside Base analysis on, click the ellipsis (...)
  3. Search for the food you want to base this analysis on.

The nutrient values will be populated for you.

Reference data sources for nutrition labelling

For the purposes of nutrition labelling, it is recommended that in Australia you choose from the AFCD or CL Meat data sources, and in New Zealand, FOODfiles. You can select the data sources in the Base analysis on modal. 

What nutrients should I enter values for?

Enter values for:

  • the mandatory nutrients according to the Food Standards Code
  • nutrients that contribute to energy, even when they will not be shown on your labels, such as dietary fibre, sugar alcohol, alcohol and organic acids 
  • any other nutrients that you wish to appear on labels 

Add Country of Origin percentage

To set the percentage Australian for this raw material

  1. Click the Nutrients tab.
  2. Enter the percentage.

For more information on working with Country of Origin Labelling, see Generating Country of Origin Labels.

Add Health Star Ratings data (optional)

To set the HSR data for this raw material

  1. Click the Nutrients tab.
  2. Enter the percentage FVNL or concentrated FV as applicable.

Health Star Ratings are voluntary. For more information on working with Health Star Ratings, see Generating Health Star Ratings.

Add warning and advisory statements, and allergens

To set the warning statements, advisory statements and allergens for this raw material

  1. Click the Nutrients tab.
  2. Beside each statement or allergen, select Yes, No or Maybe.

Add common measures

You can add your own common measures to your recipe, such as slice or leaf. 

Then when you use this raw material as an ingredient in a sub recipe or recipe you'll have the option to use the common measures you've created. (If you do not add common measures, you'll have the standard options available such as g, kg, serve.)

To set common measures for the recipe, on the Measures tab

  1. Enter the name of the common measure.
  2. Enter the corresponding weight in grams.
  3. Optional: Enter a description of the measure.

Notes

Other options for measures include:

  • Default measure – Select this box to make this common measure the default (or first) response in other recipes or food records where this recipe is used as an ingredient or food.
  • Copy measures from – Click Copy measures, then use the search box to find a similar food or recipe to base your common measures on.

Enable volume measures for a recipe

You can enable volume measures (e.g. cup, mL and L) for a raw material. This is especially helpful if the raw material is a liquid.

Then when you use this raw material as an ingredient in a sub recipe or recipe you can use volume measures to enter the quantity.

To do this, you determine the Volume Conversion Factor (VCF) by entering how much a certain volume of this raw material weighs.

If you also select the Liquid checkbox, the analyses for the raw material are also shown per 100mL.

To enable volume measures, on the Measures tab

  1. Enter the number of millilitres (mL) and its accompanying weight in grams (g). For example, in the Volume cell enter 100mL = 115g. 
  2. Select the Liquid checkbox if you wish to show the analyses per 100mL. 
  3. Click Save.

Related articles

What is a raw material 

Create a recipe or sub recipe - Overview 

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