Working with Recipes

Recipes in Genesis Foods are built by searching for and adding Ingredients, much like creating a recipe in real life. You can build a Recipe for a variety of reasons — seeing how a change to an ingredient will affect the nutrient picture is one example — but the primary reason you will build a Recipe in Genesis Foods is to use it to generate a compliant Nutrition Facts Label for your product.

You can build a Recipe from food items (ingredients, recipes, processing items, etc.) included in the database that comes with Genesis Foods or you can add your own Ingredients.

This page discusses the differences.

To build a Recipe

1. Log in to Genesis Foods with your email and the password you received from your admin. You will land on the program Dashboard.

   

    

2. On the Dashboard, click New Recipe.

   

This will bring you to the Recipe page, from which you can access all the features needed for completing your Recipe.

Naming Your Recipe

Name

Your organization will likely have established best practices for naming that you should use. If not, we recommend that you agree on a naming system before you get started using Genesis Foods.

To name your Recipe

• Type the name of your Recipe in the Name text field. The Name entry can accommodate letters and numbers. Example: Sweet potato soup, cooked, canned.

The name will also appear in the page’s header.

To clear out the name text

• Click the round X icon.

To change the name

• Type a new name in the Name field.

Aliases

An Alias is an optional shortened or more user-friendly version of your Recipe’s name. Aliases can be used in your ingredient statement or on reports. You can enter as many Aliases as you want for your Recipe.

For example, if the name of your Recipe is something like Sweet potato soup, cooked, canned, one Alias might be something like Sweet Potato Soup.

To enter an Alias

1. Type any alphanumeric combination in the text field

2. Press Enter on the keyboard

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for additional Aliases

Aliases will appear as pills in the order they were created.

To delete an Alias

• Click the round X icon on the pill

Organizing and Searching - Tags, Supplier, Product

The Tags, Product, and Supplier fields can be used to make searching for your Recipe easier, and help you organize your work. This is especially important if you have a lot of Recipes or Ingredients.

Tags

You can associate a tag to a Recipe to narrow future searches.

To select a tag for your Recipe

1. Click in the Tags field. You will see a list of available tags.

   

2. You can also type in the search box to narrow this list.

3. Click a tag to add it to your Recipe.

   

You can do this for as many tags as you’d like. You will be able to use these tags in future searches.

To remove a tag from your Recipe

• Click the round X icon.

Supplier and Product

You can associate a product and/or a supplier to your Ingredient for organization purposed or to simplify future searches.

1. Click in the Product or Supplier field

2. Use the type-ahead search to find a Product or Supplier

3. Click a Product or Supplier to add it to your Recipe.

Serving Size

Both the Recipe analysis and the required label nutrition data are based on the nutrient amounts per one serving of your Recipe. You can either divide your Recipe into a set number of servings or enter the weight for one serving.

To set your Serving Size, do one of the following

• Choose A Recipe makes … and enter the number of servings.

  

  Genesis Foods will divide the total amounts (of the Recipe’s weight and nutrients) by the number of servings to calculate the per-serving nutrient breakdown.

• Choose A Serving is… and enter the amount and weight.

  

  Genesis Foods will calculate the nutrient breakdown per the entered weight, regardless of the total Recipe amounts.

Formulation

The Formulation screen is where you add Ingredients or other food items and their amounts to your Recipe. Genesis Foods will use the nutrient data from the Ingredients to calculate the nutrient data for the Recipe, so it’s important to make sure that your Ingredient data is correctly populated before using the Ingredients in a Recipe.

1. Click Edit Recipe

2. On the Formulation screen that opens, click +Add New Food.

   

3. On the Search dialog, type words or partial words into the Search for Food Items field. You can narrow your searches with the filters at the top:

   • My foods only filters out the included database

   • Item Name will return only the food items with the search term(s) in the item name

   • Tags will let you search by tags

   • Custom Fields will return only the food items with that associated custom field

   • Item code will return only the included database items with that code. Note: This will not work if My foods only is selected

   • Gov. code will return only the included database items with that code. Note: This will not work if My foods only is selected

   • Supplier/Product will return only those food items that have been assigned that specific Supplier or Product

   • You can also toggle between Approved, Draft or All Items

     

4. Select the appropriate food from the search results by clicking on it. This adds it to the Recipe.

   

   Once you have added that Ingredient to your Recipe, it will not appear in the search results again.

5. Enter the amount by typing in a value and selecting the weight unit from the drop-down menu.

6. Continue entering the remaining foods in the same manner.

   

When you have completed this task, you will see your Ingredients listed in the order entered. You may, however, choose to sort them differently.

To sort by any column

• Click its arrows. You can assort ascending or descending.

  • The Name column is sorted alphabetically

  • The Amount column is sorted numerically, regardless of unit

  • The Gram weight column is sorted by weight

To delete a food item from the Recipe

• Click the trashcan icon

To return to the main Recipe page

• Click Return to Recipe. Your Recipe is now viewable on the main Recipe page.

Nutrients and their Overrides

This is where you can see the per-serving nutrient analysis for your Recipe, shown in the example below as “Per 100 Grams.” You can also override the nutrient values if, for example, you have obtained a lab analysis that shows different results.

Search Nutrients

It can be helpful to use the search if you are viewing a long list of nutrients, like all of them.

• To search for a particular nutrient, start typing its name in the Filter Nutrients field

Nutrient List

These are lists of specific nutrients. We recommend that you chose the same list here as you did when populating the nutrient values of your Ingredients. Some lists have been pre-populated for you, but you can also add your own lists on the Options page.

• To select a nutrient list, choose it from the drop-down menu

Override

To override a nutrient

1. Click either the %DV number or the space in the Override column

2. Enter the new value. Notice that when you enter a new %DV, that nutrient’s quantitative value automatically updates, and vice versa.

Conversions

Unit Conversion

Since the Recipe nutrient data is added by weight, you might want to add more user-friendly household measures to your Ingredient. In order to correctly add a conversion, you must know the weight of that conversion amount.

To add a Unit Conversion

1. Click the plus icon

   

2. Enter the conversion amount by typing in a quantity and selecting a household measure

3. Enter the weight for the corresponding amount

4. Click Apply.

You can add other unit conversions in the same manner. Genesis will also scale the units appropriately for common measures such as teaspoon (will scale to tablespoon, cup, etc.).

Volume Conversion

If you are creating a liquid Recipe, here is where you will enter the Volume Conversion. The program will use this conversion to display an appropriate liquid amount on the Label. You can only add one liquid conversion per Recipe.

To add a Volume Conversion

1. Click the plus icon

2. Enter the volume conversion amount by typing in a quantity and selecting a volume measure

3. Enter the weight for the corresponding amount

4. Click Apply.

You can only enter — and will only need to enter — one volume conversion.

Attributes

Optional: Preparation Instructions

The Prep Instructions are text fields that will not affect any of your Recipe’s other elements or its analysis. They’re here merely to let you record any instructions you need for the preparation of your Recipe.

Ingredient Statement

The Ingredient Statement preview will show how your ingredient statement will look without any modifications.

To Edit your Ingredient Statement

• Click Edit Ingredient Statement. This opens the Ingredient Statement page.

Generated Statement

Any modifications will automatically be reflected here. The Generated Statement shows how your Ingredient Statement will appear with any direct editing.

Modify Ingredients

On the left of the Modify Ingredients section, you’ll see your Ingredients listed by weight, which is the order they must appear in the ingredient statement.

• Click any Ingredient in that list to open its options.

Select Existing Alias

If you have already added an Alias to this Ingredient, you can select that here.

Custom Alias

Or you can create a new Alias here.

Supplemental Text

Before

Anything entered here will appear before the ingredient

After

Anything entered here will appear after the ingredient. This is often where you would add a footnote indicator, such as an asterisk

Food Item State

Food Items states are only relevant for Food Items (Recipes or Ingredients) that have sub-ingredients. There are various options for how you can display the sub-ingredients in the Ingredient Statement.

Let’s use as an example, a Recipe that contains the Ingredient Salt and the Recipe Ketchup. The Ketchup has its own sub-ingredients: Tomatoes, Water, Sugar, Salt.

Without any modifications, the Ingredient statement would look like this:

Expanded

This is the default state. Selecting Expanded will display the Ingredient (or its selected Alias) and list any child Ingredient(s) in parenthesis after the Ingredient, and the Ingredient Statement will look like this:

Merged

Selecting Merged will discard the name of the parent Ingredient (“Ketchup”) and merge any items from the sub-Ingredients with like Ingredients in the rest of the Ingredient statement. Because the Ingredient Statement lists ingredients by weight, this could change the order of ingredients. In our example, Genesis Foods would merge the two instances of salt and the Ingredient Statement will look like this:

Single Item

Selecting Single Item will only show the name of the parent Ingredient and not its sub-ingredients. Using the same example, the Ingredient Statement will look like this:

Custom

Selecting Custom will display the Edited Ingredient Statement text from a sub-Recipe’s own Ingredient Statement without the title, header, or any footnotes. In our example, let’s assume that the Ketchup Recipe’s original Ingredient Statement was edited and finalized as:

INGREDIENTS: Tomatoes, water, table salt, fructose*

*from corn

The Custom option would choose that edited statement, and the Ingredient Statement now would look like:

Ingredient Statement Options

Ingredient Statement Title

The title will default to “Ingredients” in all caps. This is standard. You may, however, wish to use a different word for the title or a different case.

To change your ingredient statement title

• Type the new text.

If you have added an asterisk to an ingredient, indicating a footnote, you must also create the footnote.

Ingredient Statement footnote

To create and add text to a footnote

1. Type in an * asterisk.

2. Type the footnote text.

Use “CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF”

Any ingredient that makes up less than 2% of the product can be indicated as such by putting those ingredients after “CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF” in your Ingredient statement.

• Click Yes to use that section.

If sulfites are present, display as

When sulfites are present in your Recipe at 10ppm or more, you must declare that somewhere on your packaging. Industry best practices have been to put that declaration at the end of your Ingredient statement. The program will automatically display a sulfite statement when the threshold is exceeded. Here you choose which statement to use.

Ingredient Statement Editor

If you need to further refine your Ingredient Statement, you can do that here.

When you are finished making all the necessary modifications, click Return to Recipe.

Allergens

Because it is a consumer-health concern, Genesis Foods has put in place a few safeguards to prevent you from creating an inaccurate allergen statement for your products. As such, the program requires you to set up your allergens correctly at the Ingredient level, and limits the adjuments you can make at the Recipe level.

The Ingredient allergens will determine the Recipe allergens. In the example below, one or more of the Ingredients contains Milk, Abalone, Soy, Tree Nuts and/or Wheat. Specific species/types are required on the allergen statement for Fish, Shellfish and Tree Nuts. Note that, in this example, Shellfish and Tree Nuts also display their species/type, and only the species/type appears in the statement preview.

Because the allergens are rolled up from the Ingredient level, Genesis Foods limits how you can move them at the Recipe level.

The color of an arrow will indicate if it can be moved that direction: A dark arrow indicates that it can; a lighter grey arrow indicates that it cannot.

You can move an allergen:

• From the Not Present bucket to the May Contain bucket

• From the Not Present bucket to the Contains bucket

• From the May Contain to the Contains bucket

You cannot move any allergen in the opposite direction except to return it to its original bucket.

To move an allergen, do one of the following:

• Click the right or left arrow

• Click and hold the grip icon to drag it to another bucket

To reset the Allergens back to their original state (as determined by the Ingredients):

1. Click Reset Allergens

   

2. When the dialog opens asking if you’re sure, click I understand.

Labels

Notes, Image, Attachments and Custom Fields

By completing the above tasks, you now have an Ingredient you can use to build a Recipe and its compliant Label. The remaining functions — Notes, Images, Attachments and Custom Fields — are not required for labeling and packaging, but are here to help you customize and organize your foods or simplify your workload.

Notes

Anything you want to add to this Ingredient that there isn’t an existing field for can go here. It is a simple text-entry field. The date and login name will be automatically recorded.

Image

Attachments

You can attach any type of document to this Ingredient, including (and we recommend this) your spec sheet or COA.

Custom Fields

You can associate up to three Custom Fields with your work and pin them to the top of your page. The Custom Fields will appear regardless of what you’re currently working on. You can only add a Custom Field to the program on the Options page.

Approval

By completing the above tasks, you now have a Recipe you can use to build a compliant Label.

Once you have finalized your Recipe, you can click Approve. Genesis Foods will save the Recipe in that state, and you will not be able to edit the Approved version. If, however, you open that approved Recipe and make any changes to it, Genesis Foods will automatically create a new editable version.

Reports

The reports have been designed to collect relevant information in one place for three primary reasons:

• Sharing the nutrient data for your Ingredient or Recipe with others (Nutrient Spec Sheet report)

• Reviewing the nutrition data for your Recipe per the individual ingredient nutrient breakdown and the total nutrient breakdown (Ingredient & Nutrient Analysis report)

• Compiling the required Label and other elements for your product’s packaging (Packaging Assets report)

• Viewing who changed what, and when (Audit Trail report)

Accessing the Recipe Reports

1. Open the Recipe

2. Click Reports in the upper right-hand corner

3. Select from the available options

4. Click Generate Report

Nutrient Spec Sheet Report

The Nutrient Spec Sheet report shows you the total nutrient content of your Recipe, broken down by nutrient. This report gives you a quick look at the overall nutrient picture and is often used to share that data with others.

You can also:

• Select which nutrients should appear on the report

• Choose to display nutrient amounts per serving, per Xg or both

• Choose to display the Recipe name or any of its aliases.

• Show/hide various branding elements

Select which nutrients to display

1. Go to Nutrients to View

2. Click the down arrow to open the menu
   

   

3. Click the list of nutrients you want to appear in this report

Display the nutrients per serving or per 100g (or another gram amount)

1. Go to Report Measures

2. Select Per Serving, Per 100g or show both

• (Optional) Change gram weight by typing a new value. Genesis will recalculate accordingly

Change how the Recipe name appears

1. Go to Name/Alias

2. Select from one of the available aliases. The name will reflect that change.

Branding

You can customize your report with a logo, signature and other elements.

Foot/Comment text will appear at the bottom of your report. You can use this space to add any pertinent information like an address or any necessary commenting.

1. Click Template

2. Select Footer/Comment
   

   

3. Type or paste text here

• (Optional) Make the text large

• (Optional) Bold or italicize the text

Logo & Signature is where you will upload images. The logo image will appear at the top of the report. The signature image will appear at the bottom, above the footer/comment.

1. Select Template

2. Click Logo & Signature
   

   

3. Upload a logo image

4. Upload a signature image

5. When you have finished, click Apply & Close

To show/hide the logo

1. Go to Show/Hide

   

2. Check or uncheck Logo. This is also how you show/hide the date and the Recipe image if you have uploaded one.

Ingredient & Nutrient Analysis Report

The Ingredient & Nutrient Analysis Report displays all the values for all of the nutrients for all of the ingredients with the totals at the bottom of the columns.

This report is useful for checking your Recipe’s nutrient data and looking for any missing or incomplete data.

You can also:

• Select which nutrients should appear on the report

• Choose to display nutrient amounts per serving, per Xg or both

Select which nutrients to display

1. Go to Nutrients to View

2. Click the down arrow to open the menu

   

3. Click the list of nutrients you want to appear in this report

Display the nutrients per serving or per 100g (or another gram amount)

1. Go to Report Measures
   

   

2. Select Per Serving, Per 100g or show both

• (Optional) Change gram weight by typing a new value. Genesis will recalculate accordingly

Packaging Assets report

The Packaging Assets report collects everything you need to comply with packaging requirements:

• Nutrition Facts

• Ingredient Statement

• Allergen Statement

• Net Weight

• Manufacturer/Distributor name and address

You can also add:

• Logo

• Signature

• Other pertinent information

Branding

You can customize your report with a logo, signature and other elements.

Foot/Comment text will appear at the bottom of your report. You can use this space to add any pertinent information like an address or any necessary commenting.

1. Click Template

2. Select Footer/Comment

   

3. Type or paste text here

• (Optional) Make the text large

• (Optional) Bold or italicize the text

Logo & Signature is where you will upload images. The logo image will appear at the top of the report. The signature image will appear at the bottom, above the footer/comment.

1. Select Template

2. Click Logo & Signature

   

3. Upload a logo image

4. Upload a signature image

5. When you have finished, click Apply & Close

To show/hide the logo

1. Go to Show/Hide

   

2. Check or uncheck Logo. This is also how you show/hide the date and the Recipe image if you have uploaded one.

Printing the Packaging Assets Report

1. Click Print in the upper right-hand corner. This brings up a print dialog

2. Make necessary changes

3. Click Print

Downloading the Packaging Assets Report

1. Click download. This opens a Save dialog.

2. Choose where you will save the zipped folder that contains the report and an SVG of the Nutrition Facts label

3. Click Save.

Audit Trail