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What is the PS Impact Score?

With the PS Impact Score, you gain insight into the environmental impact of your products. The score is calculated at product level and helps producers and buyers compare products and work in a targeted way towards greater sustainability.

Calculating the PS Impact Score requires more information than the standard ingredient declaration on the label. For the PS Impact Score, you therefore enter additional data on the product’s ingredients, percentages, countries of origin and quality marks.

The results of the PS Impact Score are then visible in My PS.

How is the PS Impact Score calculated?

The calculation is based on, among other things:

  • the product’s ingredients;
  • the internal percentage of each ingredient;
  • the countries of origin of the ingredients;
  • the quality marks present;
  • the packaging materials and packaging weights;
  • the storage conditions;
  • the preparation method and energy required.

HowGood combines this product information with scientific research, recognised data sources and information on ingredients, production countries and packaging materials. On this basis, the product’s impact on various sustainability themes is calculated.

HowGood’s methodology uses more than 600 verified data sources. The carbon footprint calculation is aligned with, among others, the GHG Protocol and, according to HowGood, complies with ISO 14067. More information about the data sources used and the calculation method can be found on HowGood’s Research & Methodology page.

The more complete and accurate the product information you enter, the more closely the calculation reflects the actual product. Is information missing? HowGood will then fill it in where possible using assumptions and average values. As a result, the outcome may reflect the actual composition, origin or production of the product less accurately.

Complete product information ensures:

  • a more reliable calculation;
  • better data quality;
  • more insight into the actual environmental impact;
  • more usable information for buyers working on sustainability targets and reporting.

How do you submit the information?

First check whether the product is in PS. Search for the product in Data Entry. Is the product not yet in PS? Then add it first and fill in the standard product information. Read how to do this in the knowledge article How do you enter a new product in Data Entry?.

Is the product already in PS? Then you can enter the additional information for the PS Impact Score in two ways.

Via the Enrich Your Products Excel

Use the Enrich Your Products Excel when you want to enter the additional information for multiple products at once.

You can find this option in My PS under PS Impact Score. Here you can download a report containing the products you want to complete. Fill in the missing information in the Excel file and then import the file back into My PS.

You don’t have to complete all products in the report in one go. You can also import the file in between and continue working on the remaining products at a later time.

This method is especially suitable for:

  • completing multiple products at once;
  • processing a large product range;
  • bulk submission of additional product information.

Via Data Entry

In Data Entry, you enter the additional information per product. Search for and open the product, then go to Specification > PS Impact Score.

Here you can, among other things:

  • check and complete ingredients and sub-ingredients;
  • enter internal percentages;
  • select valid English ingredient names;
  • add countries of origin;
  • link quality marks to ingredients.

Data Entry is especially suitable when you want to complete one or a few products, or check the information directly per product.

Do you work with ingredients from Master data? Then you can only enter the additional data for the PS Impact Score via Data Entry.

What additional information do you enter?

Ingredients and sub-ingredients

First check whether all ingredients are listed separately. Does a compound ingredient consist of several components? Then add these components as sub-ingredients.

For example, if the ingredient list states:

vegetable oils (sunflower, rapeseed)

enter sunflower oil and rapeseed oil separately as sub-ingredients. HowGood calculates the impact per ingredient. By splitting up compound ingredients, the calculation better reflects the actual composition of the product.

English ingredient name

Enter a valid English ingredient name for each ingredient and sub-ingredient. HowGood uses this name to link the ingredient to the correct raw material and its associated environmental data.

You can find the right name in two ways:

  • Type in the English Ingredient Name field. Suggestions appear as you type.
  • Use the Valid HowGood ingredient names button to open the full library of available names.

Both options use the same list, so choose whichever method works fastest for you.

Always select the name that best matches the actual ingredient. Use the most specific description possible. For wheat flour, for example, enter wheat flour and not just flour.

Is the ingredient not listed exactly? Then choose a slightly more general name. Specific apple varieties such as Elstar and Jonagold, for example, are not listed separately in the library. In that case, select apple. Differences between varieties do exist, but this level of detail is not included in the standard PS Impact Score calculation.

Is the ingredient missing from the list entirely? Then email support@psinfoodservice.com. HowGood’s research team can then investigate whether the required data can be collected and added to the database.

When a valid English name is missing, a notification appears next to the ingredient. This notification is a signal, not a block. You can still save the product, and a score will still be calculated.

If a name is missing, HowGood selects a comparable ingredient itself. This may make the calculation less accurate. Every valid ingredient name you select yourself helps improve the score.

The notification may also appear for products that have been in PS for some time. This does not mean anything has gone wrong; the previously entered ingredient name can simply be linked more accurately to the HowGood library.

Internal percentages

Enter the internal percentage from the recipe for each ingredient and sub-ingredient. This is the actual proportion in which the ingredient occurs in the product, which may differ from the percentage stated on the label under the QUID rules.

Enter the percentages as accurately as possible. The percentages of the main ingredients must add up to 100%. Does a main ingredient consist of sub-ingredients? Then also fill in the proportions within that ingredient as completely as possible.

For example, a product may consist of:

  • dough: 70%;
  • filling: 30%.

The filling in turn consists of:

  • apple: 22.5%;
  • sugar: 6%;
  • cinnamon: 1.5%.

The sub-ingredients of the filling add up to 30%, equal to the percentage of the main ingredient.

Don’t know the exact percentage of an ingredient, or prefer not to disclose it, but is its share below 2%? Then you can enter <2%.

It is better to indicate that an ingredient makes up less than 2% than to leave it out altogether.

Only use <2% for ingredients that actually make up less than 2% of the product or the compound ingredient.

Country of origin per ingredient

Indicate for each ingredient and sub-ingredient which country the raw material comes from. The country of origin can strongly influence the calculated impact, because agricultural methods, energy use, yields and land-use changes can vary by country.

Select the country where the ingredient or raw material is actually produced or grown. This is not:

  • the country where the end product is assembled;
  • the country where the supplier is based;
  • the country where the ingredient is purchased or traded.

Do you know the exact distribution by country of origin? Then create a separate line for each country and enter the corresponding percentage.

For example, if an ingredient comes 30% from the Netherlands and 70% from Spain, create two lines:

  • ingredient – Netherlands – 30%;
  • ingredient – Spain – 70%.

This allows HowGood to take the actual distribution of origin into account.

Does an ingredient come from five or more countries? Then choose EU-27 or Global:

  • Choose EU-27 when the ingredient comes from various countries within the European Union.
  • Choose Global when the ingredient is sourced worldwide.

These options may seem less specific than individual countries, but they are based on weighted averages of the market from which the ingredient is sourced. If you select five individual countries without percentages, they are all given equal weight, which often does not match the actual sourcing distribution.

So use individual countries with percentages when you know the distribution. Use EU-27 or Global when the ingredient comes from many different countries and the exact distribution is unknown.

Quality marks per ingredient

Does an ingredient have a quality mark? Then add it to that ingredient. Examples include organic, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance certified ingredients.

Only link a quality mark to the ingredients it actually applies to. If only the cocoa is certified, add the label to the cocoa, not automatically to all other ingredients or to the entire product.

Check:

  • which ingredient the label applies to;
  • whether the certification is still valid;
  • whether the entire ingredient or only part of it is certified;
  • whether you have selected the correct label from the available list.

The additional information is shared exclusively with HowGood for calculating the PS Impact Score. The more completely you fill in the data, the more closely the calculation reflects the actual product.