The nutrition information for a food service menu item is only as accurate as the data used to compute it and of course the recipe and how well the recipe is followed by each and every cook. This is something I personally appreciate about chain restaurants. I have some confidence that each fast food sandwich or salad is made with precision (following exact volumes and weights and consistency with each ingredient), which generally means the nutrition information provided is somewhat accurate. For example I know what I’m going to get when I order the Miso Salmon from Cheesecake Factory or the oatmeal from McDonald’s, whether I’m on the east or west coast or a big or small town. But even in the chain restaurants, there can be variance in amount of ingredients and therefore the nutrition information. One food preparer can be heavier handed with spreads and sauces, for example.
Variance in the Kitchen
Many types of food service establishments may be challenged with being exact on each and every single measurement of their menu items to match the nutrition information they are providing to customers. Smaller food service establishments or individual restaurants may not even be working from official recipes—often the same cook has been making the dishes for years and years without putting pen to paper. Other challenges to precision in the kitchen can be cooks that aren’t comfortable reading recipes, high turnover with staff, substitutions made either with the brand of a product or the actual ingredient used.
Sometimes well-intentioned cooks change or add an ingredient to the dish out of creativity or necessity without realizing this will change the nutrition information for that dish but more importantly may have changed the allergen exposure for unsuspecting guests.
Variance in the Products and Nutrition Information Used
Changing just the brand on a product like American cheese, curry paste or Worcestershire sauce, can change the allergens and nutrition information for the dish. For example one brand of Worcestershire sauce contains wheat/gluten while another does not and one type of American cheese can add a soy product to keep the slices from sticking together. One type of curry paste can contain traces of nuts while another does not.
There can even be great differences in the nutrition information for whole food items from different geographical regions, such as milk products, meat, and produce. One percent milk produced in Florida, for example, can have a difference of 20 calories compared to a cup of milk produced in California. Sodium can vary in cheese from brand to brand. Nutrition information can fluctuate for the same cut of meat based on type of feed, brand of cattle, and the amount of visible fat and marbling. Produce nutrients can vary based on the time of the year, nutrients in the soil where it is grown, shipping conditions etc.…
It’s important for consistency to use the same brand of product even for ingredients such as canned tomatoes, beans and broths. Some of the larger companies have been silently reducing the sodium in their products.
Bottom line, little changes in food preparation can add up to big differences in nutrition information and allergen risk for customers. The FDA allows up to 20% variance in nutrition information on packaged food (so far there isn’t a maximum overage for restaurant meals). Even if restaurants complied with the 20% variance, this could mean a dish that lists 1,000 calories on the menu, could really have 1200 calories, or an item noting 12 grams of protein, can actually have 10 grams. This allowed variance can be particularly problematic for patrons with diabetes as it can throw their carb counting off big time—a menu might list 60 grams of carbohydrate for an entrée that truly has more like 72 grams.
