Weighted nutrient analysis estimates the nutrients that actually reach students when more than one recipe is offered on the same day. Instead of treating every offering equally, Gaia weights each offering's nutrient values by how many portions you expect it to serve. It is the method USDA requires for the weekly nutrient analysis districts use to demonstrate that menus meet the meal pattern's dietary specifications. This article explains how to set up a menu so the weighted reports are accurate, how to run them, and exactly how the daily and weekly numbers are calculated.

Two report types use this method, both found under Report Type on the Nutrition Analysis Report page:

Two pieces of data drive the calculation: the menu plan's feeding figure and a portion count on each offering.

1. Set the feeding figure. The feeding figure is set at the menu plan level and represents the expected total number of meals for that menu. It is the baseline (the divisor) for the weighted calculation. The default is 100.

2. Enter a portion count on each offering. In the menu builder, open Display Options and choose the Weighted Analysis view. A data field appears next to each offering. Click the field next to an offering and type the portion count, which is the number of servings you expect that offering to contribute. Press Tab to move to the next offering's field and keep entering counts. The weighted reports compare these counts against the feeding figure to decide how much each offering counts toward the day's totals.

An offering can contain more than one recipe, and how the portion count is shared depends on the offering's rule type:

The heart of the method is a per-offering weight factor:

Weight factor = portion count ÷ feeding figure

For example, an offering with a portion count of 150 on a menu whose feeding figure is 300 has a weight factor of 150 ÷ 300 = 0.5. A recipe in that offering with 100 calories per serving contributes 100 × 0.5 = 50 calories to the day's total. (An offering with no portion count uses a weight factor of 1, contributing its values in full.)

Daily weighted value. For each day, Gaia multiplies every recipe's nutrient values by its offering's weight factor and adds them up across all offerings on that day. The result is one weighted nutrient value per nutrient, per day, reflecting the relative size of each offering.

Weekly weighted average. The weekly value is the average of the daily weighted values across the days offered. The unrounded daily values are summed and divided by the number of days that actually have offerings (not by 5 or 7). Days with no offerings are excluded. This follows the method in the USDA Nutrient Analysis Software Specifications (§8.3), so the weekly figure equals the mean of the per-day values shown on the Daily Weighted report.

Example: daily weighted calories of 728.235, 772.308, 628.846, 876.714, and 481.902 sum to 3,488.005 across 5 days, giving a weekly average of 3,488.005 ÷ 5 = 697.601 calories.

The Weekly Weighted Nutrient Analysis compares the weekly averages against the USDA dietary specifications, the weekly limits USDA sets for each age/grade group, for four nutrients: calories, sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars, and shows a Pass/Fail result for each. Saturated fat and added sugars are judged as a percentage of calories, calculated from the weekly averages (not by averaging daily percentages):

Both thresholds display as ≤ 10% of Calories. The USDA added sugars limit takes effect July 1, 2027; until then its footnote appears automatically on the report.