US retailers Price Chopper and Hy-Val have adopted the NuVal nutritional scoring system, which rates food based on its nutritional content.
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NuVal’s scoring system gives any given food product a score between 1 and 100. The higher the score, the higher the nutritional content.
“Dietary pattern is one of the true pillars of lifelong health, but as people attempt to eat healthier, they are confronted with food packaging and labels that are simply not enough to help them choose wisely. We must empower them to do so,” said NuVal creator Dr David Katz.
“That means objective, expert, at-a-glance guidance, a GPS system for the modern food supply.”
NuVal scores can be found on the shelf tags at all 116 Price Chopper and 225 Hy-Vee supermarkets.
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By GlobalDataNuVal said it expects more supermarkets to sign up to the initiative in the coming year.
The scheme is another example of a series of nutritional labelling programmes used by different food manufacturers and grocers in the US.
Earlier this month, Supervalu introduced nutrition iQ, its own labelling scheme to encourage consumers to buy healthier food.
Retailers Hannaford and Food Lion, both owned by Belgium’s Delhaize, use their own Guiding Stars scheme, which give products one, two or three stars on their price tags depending on whether they meet fixed nutritional guidelines.
Later this year, a nationwide programme backed by the likes of General Mills, Kraft Foods and Unilever, will also be rolled out.
The initiative, dubbed the Smart Choices Program, will measure products against a set of nutritional criteria, including limits on ingredients like saturated fat and salt, as well as the amount of “nutrients to encourage”, including calcium, potassium and fibre. Products that qualify will carry the Smart Choices symbol on packages, which will also carry information about the number of calories per serving and number of servings per container.
