Low Fat, Aisle 2: Grocer to Flag Healthful Foods

By TIMOTHY W. MARTIN and JANET ADAMY

Supervalu Inc. is rolling out a storewide nutritional information program, the first national grocery chain to label which products on its shelves meet government health recommendations.

Under pressure from health groups to attack the nation's obesity problem, grocers and restaurants have been moving toward offering more nutrition information in the past few years.

Supervalu

Supervalu shelf tags will indicate which foods are high in fiber or low in saturated fat, for example.

Supervalu is the first big chain to take the idea a step further, aiming to label all the healthful foods in its stores under its "nutrition iQ" program. The program was developed in collaboration with Joslin Clinic, a group affiliated with the Harvard Medical School.

Set for rollout at 1,300 stores in the next six months, the program will place tags of various colors next to the bar code and product price, communicating that a product meets U.S. Food and Drug Administration criteria with nutrient content. For example, foods that are excellent or good sources of fiber are given orange tags, while products with low saturated fat will carry a red tag. It is possible for one product to meet multiple criteria and have more than one colored stripe.

Some nutrition advocates say that supermarket labeling programs are a step toward helping consumers make better choices. But others point out that Supervalu's system may not go far enough because it doesn't explicitly tell consumers which foods to avoid or eat in small quantities. "Healthy eating is about both choosing healthy foods and ... limiting unhealthy foods," says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Supervalu Chief Executive Jeff Noddle says the company wishes only to provide consumers with the requisite dietary information. "It's not our role to decide what they should buy, what they shouldn't buy," he says.

Other Labeling Systems

Supervalu, the nation's third-largest U.S. food retailer by sales after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co., is following some smaller chains into the labeling game. Hannaford Bros. Co., based in Scarborough, Maine, and a subsidiary of Belgian Delhaize Group, launched a three-star system of good, better and best called Guiding Stars in September 2006. In the past few months, two other systems, called NuVal and Healthy Ideas, have launched in regional supermarkets.

Kroger, based in Cincinnati, has had a nutritional label on the packages of its store-brand products for 18 months. Spokespeople at Safeway Inc., based in Pleasanton, Calif., said that the company is looking at several store-label programs, but that it currently helps its shoppers find healthy products with nutritional information signs and an online program that tracks purchasing habits and rates your diet.

Representatives of some food manufacturers say the programs aren't necessary because nutritional information is already available. "Every packaged food has a nutritional-facts panel on it, so there's nutritional information for making choices on all of the products," says Robert Earl, vice president of science policy, nutrition and health for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, based in Washington, D.C.

Some Gaps Remain

But some manufacturers' labeling programs have come under criticism because they do not publish the exact criteria they look at when judging a food.

For restaurants, a wave of legislation over the past two years is forcing chains to list calorie counts alongside dishes on the menus and menu boards. Earlier this month, Seattle's King County became the second place in the country, after New York City, where chain restaurants must now post such information on their menus.

There are about 30 restaurant-menu-labeling policies under consideration nationwide at the state and local level, according to Ms. Wootan. Nine have passed so far, including in the state of California, where chain restaurants will have to post calorie contents on menus by 2011.

Some research suggests the labeling has helped consumers make healthier choices. In a study of New Yorkers last year, 73% of those who had visited a restaurant with the labeling in place said it impacted their ordering "somewhat" or "a great deal," according to Technomic, a restaurant consulting company.

Restaurant Mandates

Restaurant chains initially lobbied against the labeling regulations, but more of them are getting on board. Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC and Taco Bell, plans to voluntarily list calorie information on menu boards at company-owned restaurants by 2011. Other chains single out specific items as being healthful. For example, Olive Garden, owned by Darden Restaurants Inc., marks its low-fat selections with an olive branch.

The Supervalu program will be introduced in two phases. The first will focus on items found in the center aisles, frozen foods and dairy sections, designating about 4,200 products or 14% of 30,000 products over the next six months. The second phase will include bakery, deli, meat, produce and seafood categories, which will be evaluated and tagged by the end of the year, the company says. Ultimately, around 10% of the store's 60,000 products are expected to carry the "nutrition iQ" colored tag.

Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com and Janet Adamy at janet.adamy@wsj.com