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Grocery chain offers 'nutritional navigation'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 7, 2006

ALBANY, N.Y. - Shredded wheat gets 3 stars. Baked beans, 1 star. Doritos, no stars.

Those movie-style ratings for food, launched by a New England grocery chain, take nutritional hand-holding to a new level.

Hannaford Bros. supermarkets says it's an effort to simplify choices for consumers, using gold-star shelf tags to mark the healthiest foods. The rating system is in 150 of its stores in upstate New York and New England.

Some experts say it makes sense.

"There's a certain level of frustration in consumers trying to figure out all the different health claims," said Bill Greer, a spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute.

Under Hannaford's Guiding Stars program, "healthy" products are given 1 star, better choices get 2 and the best are given 3. Foods with no nutritional value get no stars.

The rankings are based on USDA guidelines, with points earned for meeting recommended levels of nutrients like fiber and taken away for having too much bad stuff - like saturated fats and sugar.

Of 27,000 food items in the store that were evaluated, only about a quarter of them earned at least one star. Some items - like cooking oils, coffee or water - were not evaluated.

"You don't have to have a nutrition degree to understand it," said Caren Epstein, spokeswoman for Hannaford, based in Scarborough, Maine.

Hannaford is owned by Delhaize Group, a Belgian retail conglomerate that also owns Sweetbay Supermarket in the Tampa Bay area.

The system gives shoppers a good baseline for understanding healthy eating, said Cathy Nonas, a registered nutritionist with the American Dietetic Association.

"It's a big step in the right direction," she said.

And at the right time. Federal statistics show two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.

Such guidance and support systems, once the forte of upscale and niche grocers, are moving into the mainstream. A survey this year by the Food Marketing Institute found 72 percent of supermarkets were offering some type of nutritional guidance, up from 67 percent in 2004.

The Guiding Stars at Hannaford evaluated most of its foods - packaged, frozen, fresh or prepared - for nutritional value, but not for calories.

Produce like broccoli, blueberries and artichokes and cereal like Post Shredded Wheat get 3 stars. The Cinnamon Shredded Wheat gets 2 stars.

The stars, attached to price tags on the shelves, are discreet. Brochures and signs explaining the program will be posted in aisles, but the nutritional navigation system is "not in your face," Epstein said.

Company officials also note the system "is in no way a diet" and doesn't count calories.

Nonas, of the American Dietetic Association, said the grading system will weed out many high-calorie foods. But those looking to lose weight will still need to examine food labels.

"Just because a product is healthier doesn't mean it's the best choice," she said.

[Last modified September 6, 2006, 23:15:26]