Getting Started

Welcome to Genesis Classic, Food Formulation and Labelin Software. We developed Genesis to provide you with access to the latest nutrition analysis data and compliant label formats in an easy-to-use program. It is like having a nutrition lab and label designer in your computer — you can get the nutrition analysis of any food or combination of foods you select, and results are instantly available.

The software and its functions will help you provide scientifically sound nutrition information for your recipes, menus, and formulations. A variety of reports are already available in the system, and the information can be customized to meet the needs of your organization.

On this page:

About the ESHA Nutrient Databases

Genesis Classic comes to you with a research-quality database. It is composed of more than 85,000 food items, with data from over 2,000 reputable sources. The data sources include the latest USDA Standard Reference database, manufacturer's data, restaurant data, and data from literature sources. Each of our over 160 nutritional components is individually sourced.

In addition, we provide several calculated fields, such as the percent calories from fat and niacin equivalents. We also group foods into detailed food categories and add diabetic exchange and MyPlate food group information to database items. Mathematical checks are run on the nutrient information database before each update release to ensure data accuracy and integrity.

The nutritional databases that are shipped with our desktop software products are a custom subset of the ESHA master database. For more information regarding the database, contact our Nutrition team at nutrition@esha.com . To make a submission to the database, please click here.

There are many Nutrition Database solutions on the market today which can make it difficult to select the right one for your business. This Nutrition Database eBook provides an overview of what to consider when comparing database solutions.

Reliability of Data

There can be many different nutrient values for a given food. Various factors influence the amounts of nutrients in foods. Among these are mineral content of the soil, diet of an animal, fertilizers or growth hormones used, genetics of the plant or animal, season of harvest, and processing method. Additional factors include the methods of analysis, differences in moisture content of samples, length and method of sample storage, number of samples tested, and varying methods of cooking or preparing the food. As a result, even reliable sources will report different nutrient values for the same food item. When the USDA reports a single value for a nutrient, that value is usually the average of a range of data. In their more detailed reports, the number of samples and standard deviation of the data are noted.

Nutrient data should be viewed and used only as a guide – a close approximation of the true nutrient content.

Pre-label data from food manufacturers is compiled, when available, to build the nutrient database for brand-name food items.

Blanks in the ESHA database represent cases where there is either no available data or a lack of reliable data. A zero value means that an item has been analyzed and there is no nutrient content.

Registered owners of Genesis® R&D are notified as periodic updates are made to the database.

Changes in the Database, Program, and Manual

ESHA Research is constantly modifying the database by adding new foods, updating existing foods, and eliminating outdated foods. Database updates are published regularly. The descriptions in this manual are subject to change. The program is constantly being modified and improved, and pictures and descriptions in the manual cannot always keep up. Therefore, you may find that some descriptions do not exactly reflect the program screen. The basic steps and functions, however, should perform as described.