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Nutrient Analysis Protocols

Whether you are going to be doing a nutrient analysis for a school or a hospital, there are a few protocols that need to be followed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a guidebook called Nutrient Analysis Protocols which to help with this process.

  1. Gather Materials Needed

    • According to the USDA's Nutrient Analysis Protocols guidebook, the first step to conducting a nutrient analysis is gathering up the materials that needed, such as menus, recipes, list of ingredients, descriptions of food products, and the nutritional information about those ingredients and food products. If you are doing an nutrient analysis for a school, or school district, or a hospital, or group of hospitals, then the information you need to gather comes from the place, or places, you are doing the analysis for.

    Adding Information to Database

    • According to the USDA, another nutrient analysis protocol is to put the information gathered into the local nutrient database. This includes adding the information gathered from the menus, putting in new recipes, and putting in new nutritional information on the food products and ingredients that are already being used, or that will be implemented after your analysis is complete.

    Analyzing Data

    • The final protocol is analyzing the gathered. This should be done in alignment with the goals that the school, school district, or hospital you are doing the analysis for has in relation to nutrition. For example, if you are doing the analysis for a hospital in order to improve the nutrition of diabetes patients, then you should analyze their current menus with nutritional guidelines for diabetes patients in mind. In this case, things such as alpha-lipoic acid and vitamin B should be a part of patients' nutrition.

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