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Measurement
10 Questions Retailers Ask Before Calculating Their Protein Ratio
By Romain Balès and Dexter Oelrichs
Before calculating their protein ratio, retailers almost always ask the same questions: what data to provide, who will see it, how much time and money it takes, and whether the result has to be published. Here are our answers, as we give them in meetings.
1. What data do we need to provide?
To get started, three pieces of information per product are enough: the EAN code, the product name and the net weight.
If you have them, other data make the calculation more precise: where the product sits in your category hierarchy, ingredient lists, nutrition values and, for your own brands, detailed recipes. None of them is essential: when information is missing, we fill it in from reference sources, and every value states where it comes from.
There is no need to prepare a special file. We start from your existing exports, even imperfect ones.
2. Do we have to share our sales volumes?
No. Volumes are essential to the final ratio, but they do not need to leave your company.
The workbook we deliver has a single column to fill in: your volumes. You can enter them yourself, internally, and every result recalculates. If you prefer to send them to us, they are used for your calculation only.
In every case, your volumes are never passed on to third parties, including the organisations behind the methodologies.
3. Who sees our data and our results?
No one outside the Altera project team. The calculation is covered by a confidentiality agreement, and no data from one retailer ever goes to another: no figure, no recognisable example, no aggregate built on fewer than two retailers.
Three points come up often:
- The language model that helps classify products only sees their descriptors: product name, full name, department, brand, ingredients and weight. It never sees your volumes, prices or margins, and your data is not used to train any model.
- The organisations behind the methodologies, and NGOs, receive neither your data nor your results from us. If you want your ratio validated or published, you decide whether to send it to them.
- What we learn about an EAN code (its category, its protein content) goes into our reference database, never with your banner attached. Your volumes, sales ranks and category hierarchy never go into it.
4. Can we run a test before committing?
Yes. We can start with a sample of products you choose, for example 200 items, with results within a few days.
A test checks two things before the full calculation: that the classification matches how you read your own products, and that your data is sufficient. The terms, including whether a confidentiality agreement is needed, depend on the information the sample contains.
5. How long does it take?
The calculation itself takes around two weeks from receipt of the catalogue.
What often takes longest happens before: the confidentiality agreement, the service agreement and, at some retailers, an IT security or AI-use questionnaire. Involving those teams early, along with the team that will extract the data, is the best way to save weeks.
6. How much does it cost?
Calculating the ratio is free for retailers.
Altera Food Initiative is a non-profit association. The calculation is funded by private donations, so that cost is never a barrier to measurement. Retailers who wish can then ask us for paid support to move from the ratio to action: category analysis, choice of levers, in-store pilots. This support is optional and separate from the calculation.
7. Which methodology should we choose, and is it recognised?
You do not need to choose to get started: we calculate both reference methodologies, separately.
- The Protein Tracker, developed by the Green Protein Alliance and ProVeg Netherlands, counts the protein sold. It is the reference in the Netherlands, where the Ministry of Agriculture also uses it for its sustainability dashboard.
- WWF's Planet-Based Diets methodology counts tonnes of product. It is used notably in the United Kingdom and Germany.
There is no official methodology in France today. For French products, we rely in particular on the Ciqual table published by Anses, the French food safety agency. The choice between the two methodologies arises when setting a target or communicating. We compare their uses in Protein Tracker vs WWF Methodology: Which Approach Should Retailers Use to Measure the Protein Shift?, and review what European retailers publish in Protein Ratio: Where Do European Retailers Stand in 2026?.
8. Is our data good enough?
Almost always, yes. No retailer has perfect data, and the calculation is designed to work with what exists.
The most common difficulties are well known: abbreviated till labels, missing ingredient lists, missing protein contents on fresh and service-counter products. We handle them by order of reliability, and every value states its source.
For composite products, precision depends on what you know about your recipes. For your own brands, exact recipes allow us to measure the actual share of plant and animal protein. For national brands, we rely on the regulatory ingredient list and reference tables. The result shows the share of your data measured precisely (Level A) and the share that relies on a convention (Level B), as the Protein Tracker requires.
A first calculation does not need to be perfect to be useful, as we explain in Why Retailers Should Calculate Their Protein Ratio Before Setting a Public Target.
9. How reliable is the result?
It is measured, not assumed. We draw 200 rows of your deliverable at random, seal them before any review, then check them by hand, field by field.
You get one rate per field, describing your catalogue and no other. That rate is a quality indicator, not a guaranteed result. Every step and every check is described in How Altera Calculates Your Protein Ratio, Step by Step.
One point of wording matters too: your ratio is calculated under the Protein Tracker or the WWF methodology. It is not "certified" by those organisations.
10. Do we have to publish the result?
No. The calculation is confidential, and the decision to publish is entirely yours.
Many retailers start with internal use: knowing their starting point, identifying the categories that weigh most, then deciding on a target. If you do publish, the context matters. From 27 September 2026, EU Directive 2024/825, known as EmpCo, tightens the rules on environmental claims made to consumers. A published ratio will need to be clear, specific and verifiable, which means explaining the methodology and what the figure measures.
And after the calculation?
We always present the results in a meeting before sending the files. It is the moment to explain the conventions used, read the figures with your teams and decide on next steps.
Sustainability teams often coordinate the project, but the ratio only moves if category, buying, e-commerce and marketing teams take it up. We explain why in Why ESG Teams Cannot Deliver Protein Shift Alone.
You receive a line-by-line file with the source of every value, a workbook that recalculates with your volumes, a scope statement and the list of conventions used.
Conclusion
Calculating your protein ratio takes little: a product export, a few weeks and one person to steer the project internally. The real questions come afterwards, when the figure is on the table and you have to decide what to do with it.
Altera Food Initiative calculates retailers' protein ratios free of charge, under the Protein Tracker and the WWF methodology. Discover the tool · Contact us
Sources
Green Protein Alliance and ProVeg Netherlands, The Protein Tracker: National Supermarket Protein Split 2025, March 2026 (methodology, Level A and B data, use by the Dutch ministry).
WWF, Achieving a Planet-Based Diet: a methodology for retailers to track progress toward healthy, sustainable diets, 2024.
https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf-planet-based-diets-retailer-methodology.pdf
Anses, Ciqual French food composition table.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 of 28 February 2024 (EmpCo), empowering consumers for the green transition.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024L0825
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