At a time when consumers are increasingly concerned about what they eat, the owner of Albertsons is launching a wide-ranging nutrition labeling campaign today designed to help shoppers quickly sort out what's more healthful.
But don't expect any labels on big sellers such as cookies, soft drinks, juice or ice cream. The stores are staying away from those nutritional hot potatoes for now.
"We don't have an obligation to be the pizza police," said Jeff Noddle, Supervalu Inc.'s chief executive, "but we do have an obligation to be a conduit of information for consumers who enter our stores and traverse the 30,000 to 40,000 products we sell.
Supervalu, the nation's No. 3 grocer, which also owns Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco and other chains, has developed what it calls "nutrition iQ," a program that relies on color-coded, easy-to-spot shelf tags, or cards, that front grocery aisles to help shoppers make selections.
Some foods will have shelf signs with a red tab that says "low saturated fat." Others will have orange tags for foods that have higher levels of fiber, green tags for items with less salt and blue labels for foods with more calcium. The rating system launches with several thousand products and will be rolled out to include much of what's sold inside a typical supermarket.
The program is getting support from food nutrition labeling advocates, even those who are working to launch rival nutrition scoring programs.
"We have to stop measuring value as the number of calories per dollar and look instead at how much nutrition you are getting for your buck," said Dr. David Katz, a nutrition expert and public health professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, who developed a rating system used by several small regional grocery chains.
During a pilot program at an Albertsons in Fullerton last week, most shoppers didn't notice the new labels. But those who did thought the shelf cards were helpful.
"Normally I look at the nutrition facts on the label but this is easier," said Laura Herman of Placentia as she pushed her shopping cart through the canned vegetable row.
Preliminary data from tests in 10 of Albertsons' 239 Southern California stores suggested that the program helped steer shoppers to purchases of better-for-you foods in some categories, the company said.
