A system and method include exploding a recipe via a computer system for a process to make an end food product into a set of hierarchical process steps, obtaining nutrient values for each input material to be used in making the end food product, obtaining loss profiles for input materials, the nutrient loss profiles including a process loss profile for steps in the process to make the end food product and a storage loss profile for storing intermediate food product resulting during the process, and performing a hierarchical based nutrient loss calculation using the nutrient values and loss profiles to quantify nutrients remaining in the end food product.