Creating a Nutrition Profile
A nutrition profile stores the FDA-required nutrient data for a product and generates a print-ready Nutrition Facts label. You can create profiles manually, look up data from the USDA FoodData Central database, or generate them automatically from a recipe.
Go to Labels → Nutrition Profiles and choose New Profile to get started.
Choosing how to enter data
At the top of the editor you'll see two options:
- Manual Entry — type every value yourself. Use this when you have lab results, a supplier spec sheet, or any source other than USDA.
- USDA Lookup — search the USDA FoodData Central database and pre-fill all nutrient values from a matching food. Great as a starting point when you don't have your own lab data.
USDA Lookup
- Switch to USDA Lookup.
- Type the name of your food or ingredient (e.g. "whole wheat bread", "cheddar cheese").
- Results appear as you type. Each result shows the food description, data type (Foundation, SR Legacy, or Branded), and brand if applicable.
- By default, branded products are excluded — the results focus on USDA's foundation and reference data, which tends to be more accurate for generic ingredients. Turn on Include branded products if you need to match a specific commercial product.
- Click any result to pre-fill all nutrient values — calories, fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, protein, and the four required vitamins and minerals (Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, Potassium).
USDA data is per 100g. After selecting a food, set your serving size in the Serving Size field. If you include a gram weight in the serving size (e.g.
28gor1 oz (28g)), Iraca automatically scales all nutrient values to that serving size. Changing the gram value updates the nutrients live. If you also enter a Container Size, Servings per Container is calculated automatically.
Changing serving size rescales all nutrients. Whether you used USDA Lookup or entered values manually, editing the Serving Size field proportionally adjusts all nutrient values (calories, fats, carbs, protein, etc.) to match the new serving size. For example, doubling the serving size doubles all values.
After pre-filling, a green banner confirms which USDA food was matched. Switch to Manual Entry at any time to review and adjust the values before saving.
Generate from Recipe
If you have a recipe in Iraca with ingredients that have USDA nutrition data linked, you can generate a blended nutrition profile automatically:
- Expand the Generate from Recipe section.
- Select a recipe from the dropdown.
- Enter the serving size (e.g.
30g), servings per container, and total output grams for the batch. - Choose Auto-populate nutrition values.
Iraca calculates a weighted blend of each ingredient's USDA nutrients scaled to a single serving of your product. Review the result and adjust anything that doesn't look right before saving.
Filling in the profile
Whether you used USDA Lookup, Generate from Recipe, or Manual Entry, you'll fill in the same fields:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Profile Name | A label for this profile, e.g. "Classic Granola Bar 28g". |
| Serving Size | Text shown on the label, e.g. 1 oz (28g). Include a numeric value to enable auto-scaling and auto-calculation of servings per container. |
| Container Size | The total amount in the package, e.g. 500g or 16 oz. When both Serving Size and Container Size have a numeric value, Servings per Container is calculated automatically (Container ÷ Serving). You can still override the calculated value manually. |
| Servings per Container | Number of servings in one package. Auto-filled when Container Size is set. Rounded per FDA rules: nearest whole number for > 5 servings, nearest 0.5 for ≤ 5 servings. |
| Calories | Per serving. |
| Fats | Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat — all in grams. |
| Cholesterol / Sodium | In milligrams. |
| Carbohydrates | Total Carb, Dietary Fiber, Total Sugars, Added Sugars — in grams. |
| Protein | In grams. |
| Vitamins & Minerals | Vitamin D, Calcium, Iron, and Potassium are pre-filled from USDA when available. You can add additional vitamins or edit any entry — each has a name, amount (e.g. 2mcg), and optional % Daily Value. |
Live preview
The right side of the editor shows a live Nutrition Facts label that updates as you type. Use the format selector above the preview to switch between the four FDA-accepted layouts:
| Format | When to use |
|---|---|
| Vertical | Standard tall format. Use this for most packages. |
| Simplified | Same as Vertical, but nutrients with 0% Daily Value that aren't required by FDA are hidden automatically. Useful for products with very few nutrients (e.g. water, plain oils). |
| Tabular | Wide two-column layout. Use when your package is too wide or flat to fit the vertical format. |
| Linear | Single line of text. Allowed only on very small packages with less than 40 cm² of available label space (e.g. individual candy wrappers, single-serve packets). |
The format you select is also what gets exported — so what you see in the preview is exactly what downloads.
All values on the label are rounded per FDA rules (21 CFR 101.9) — calories to the nearest 5 or 10, fats to the nearest 0.5g or 1g, sodium to the nearest 5mg or 10mg, carbohydrates and protein to the nearest 1g. Raw precision is preserved in the database; rounding is applied only for display.
Saving and exporting
Choose Save to save the profile. Once saved, you can export the label in three formats:
- PDF — print-ready, vector-quality.
- PNG — high-resolution raster image (2× pixel density).
- JPG — same as PNG, suitable for digital use.
Attaching a profile to a product
You can attach a nutrition profile directly from a product's detail page under the Nutritional Information section. That section also offers USDA Lookup and Manual Entry without leaving the product page. The standalone Nutrition Profiles editor (Labels → Nutrition Profiles) is best when you want to create and download labels independently of any specific product.