Label Me Healthy

Health-conscious shoppers perusing the cereal aisle might be surprised if they compare the nutritional facts on a box of Cheerios to those on a box of "multi grain" Cheerios. The regular Cheerios have fewer calories per serving, less sugar, more protein and a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals.Most shoppers, though, aren't willing to do what it takes to educate themselves to that degree. "With more than 40,000 food products on our grocery shelves, it takes time to read and compare nutrition labels," says Heidi Diller, a registered dietician who oversees the Nutrition IQ program at Supervalu's Albertsons and Cub Foods stores in Southern California.Enter nutritional labeling systems, a number of which have rolled out in the past few years. In the NuVal system – developed in 2008 by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts and now used by such retailers as Kroger, Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and Meijer – Cheerios receive a NuVal score of 37, and multi-grain Cheerios get a 27 (the higher the rating, the higher the nutritional value).Most major supermarket chains now employ shelf tags with some type of food rating system that does, in fact, influence today's shopper. The movement began about five years ago, with the Publix and Delhaize America programs among the first to market.The NuVal system doesn't limit itself to "healthy" food categories; its scores apply to a much larger set of products. "Certain cross-category comparisons do not make sense," says Mike Nugent, general manager of Braintree, Mass.-based NuVal LLC. "We're not expecting shoppers to trade bran flakes for potato chips. Our program allows customers to make informed decisions about which spaghetti sauce is more nutritious than another, or which cake mix is [a bit less indulgent] than the next."Is One Program Better than the Other?Delhaize's Guiding Stars program, which awards a product one to three stars based on its nutritional value, appears in more than 1,500 stores, including the Hannaford and Food Lion chains. NuVal's numeric model, which uses a low-to-high scale of 1-100, is now in about 1,200 retail stores.Other labeling programs call out healthy items using a type of nutritional stamp of approval, such as Ahold USA's Healthy Ideas, or by highlighting specific nutritional content, such as Supervalu's Nutrition IQ and Safeway's Simple Nutrition. Proponents say that all of these programs – while by no means a cure-all for bad eating habits – provide a convenient tool for today's busy shopper. "Our insights indicate that people want and need health advice from their grocery store," Supervalu's Diller says. "Also, 70-80% of shoppers are interested in shelf labels that identify healthy products, and 70% of shoppers consider heart health important while shopping."There's more to the proliferation of these programs than addressing shopper needs. In recent years, food manufacturers have faced mounting pressure from government agencies and consumer groups to help curtail the nation's obesity problem. In early 2011, a group of leading food and beverage manufacturers responded with Nutrition Keys, a front-of-label initiative that clearly delineates a food product's calorie, fat, sodium and sugar content. That comes after a previous national labeling program called "Smart Choices" and backed by manufacturers failed in 2009.Food companies are quick to tout such efforts to promote increased transparency in labeling, but they are careful not to cite preferences among the various retailer programs. Such CPGs as Kellogg Co. and General Mills declined to comment on specific programs for this article. "We continue to support the concept of consistent front-of-pack labeling and, in the U.S., will unite with food and beverage manufacturers and retailers to transition, over time, to Nutrition Keys," says Lisa Sutherland, vice president of Kellogg North American Nutrition.Ken Harris, chief executive officer of Evanston, Ill.-based Kantar Retail Americas, says that CPG companies are understandably reluctant to play favorites. "Most of the big supermarkets carry all of their products, so they are not going to come out publicly in favor of one program or another." Harris says that even in private conversations there is no consensus as to which, if any, of the labeling programs stand out. "Food companies don't necessarily think any one is better than another. The jury is still out," he says. "Companies see all these labeling initiatives as consistent with their development process. They genuinely believe they have a responsibility to improve the nutritional profile of [some of] their products."Impacting Shopper BehaviorWith much invested in their labeling programs, retailers are paying close attention to the impact on shopper behavior and, of course, sales. Supervalu, for one, has conducted shopalongs, focus groups and brand equity studies to assess the impact of Nutrition IQ on its multiple store banners. "There is a broad strengthening of opinion among Nutrition IQ users and [an increase in] those who are of the program versus those who are not," says Diller. "Banners were receiving increasingly higher scores for being known for providing healthy products." Plus, "we are seeing a positive impact on sales with Nutrition IQ tags."Many retailers say these nutrition programs are more about improving shopper loyalty than achieving a short-term sales boost. "We implemented the NuVal program so that we could better serve our customers. Sales were not part of the initial discussion," says Stephanie Walker, registered dietician and director of health and wellness at De Pere, Wis.-based Skogen's Festival Foods. "NuVal is a great secondary tool for customers. It takes the place of us being there and answering questions while they shop."Ellie Wilson, registered dietician and senior nutritionist at Price Chopper, Schenectady, N.Y., agrees. "For a long time before we put [the NuVal system] in place, we had a number of customer inquiries about nutrition that we could not efficiently answer." She says that while the NuVal implementation costs were a significant investment, "This was not about ROI for us. We wanted to become a great resource for our customers. Besides, it would have cost millions for us to create our own system, and we're certainly not talking about that kind of level."Shirley Axe, health and wellness manager at Ahold, says that programs like Healthy Ideas are meant to encourage shoppers to "look deeper" into the nutritional content of their foods. "It doesn't take the place of reading the label," she says. "It merely gives customers an opportunity to identify, at a glance, a healthier option."A number of retailers who rely on NuVal's numeric system reported a noticeable shift toward sales of higher-ranking products within certain categories; the most commonly mentioned are milk, yogurt, cereal and pasta sauces. "We measured sales over a three-month period last year and found anywhere from a 5 to 16% lift in higher-scoring items in yogurt, cold cereal and fresh bread," says Wilson.Of course, the impact of a nutritional rating system on sales can be difficult to quantify, as other factors like price must be considered in any analysis. "If you have two yogurts with different scores, sure, you check the nutritional content," says NuVal's Nugent. "But then if you see the price of one is half the other, that may overcome any health benefits."Tyra Carter, a registered dietician at United Supermarkets in Amarillo, Texas, says that the NuVal rankings are conditioning her shoppers to challenge widely held assumptions about certain food comparisons. "Many shoppers are very surprised to learn that a can of green beans with no added salt can get the same 100 score as fresh beans, or that a fresh peach will score 100 but a fresh peach cup with added sugar and processed ingredients will get a 6."Sometimes, even a dietician can learn a thing or two. "I did a double take when I saw that Mission corn tortillas score a 91 while Albuquerque homestyle flour tortillas got a 3," says Carter, explaining that the difference lies in the disparity between the nutritional value of corn versus white flour, plus the amount of saturated fat. "The moral of the story is that 'healthy' is not a black or white judgment. You have to think before you buy."It's All in the ExecutionOnce a labeling system is implemented, success lies in execution – from staff training and customer relations to in-store marketing. Several retailers are starting to leverage their shelf-tag programs to other parts of the store. This year, Supervalu expanded its program to the perimeter, highlighting nutritional products with signage in the bakery, produce, meat and seafood sections, as well as featuring the Nutrition IQ logo in brochures, circulars and even a TV spot. Safeway, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a Web-enabled tool as an online extension of Simple Nutrition.At Ahold's Giant and Martin's Food Markets stores, the Healthy Ideas program provided the concept for a recently revamped in-store magazine with the same name. The quarterly publication includes seasonal recipes that focus on health and wellness and whose ingredients may be swapped out for products that receive the Healthy Ideas moniker, says Axe. "Manufacturers often come to us with promotions that are tied to the magazine. We've also done Healthy Ideas store tours for kids in 2010, including schools and organizations like Girl Scouts. We're taking a fully integrated approach to service and educating our customers about nutrition."Festival Foods conducts NuVal presentations with local health providers on topics such as how to create healthier holiday meals. Sun Maid Raisins, which garner a high score of 87, recently sponsored the grocer's "Healthy Kids Day" at a YMCA in Green Bay, Wis. "At times we'll approach a manufacturer and use [the NuVal score] as leverage to enter into marketing partnerships," says Walker. "If a brand has a low score, we find that's often an incentive for them to do something to lower the product's sugar or sodium content."One of the user-friendly features of the NuVal system, Walker says, is that quarterly updates to the scores are uploaded into the store's pricing software and are automatically printed out on new shelf tags. "If you had to manually update the shelf tags on thousands of products, that would be a huge cost of implementation," she says.Nugent says the NuVal program includes a 55-page manual as part of its startup costs, which he declines to disclose. The costs, he says, "have not been a barrier to entry" for most retailers. He argues that, beyond efficiency, costs savings can be achieved by leveraging the scores in marketing materials, such as the reusable grocery bags that Tops Friendly Markets created with the catch phrase, "Life is a bowl of 96s (cherries)."How Programs Stack UpThe current array of nutritional labeling programs share a few basic features. Most programs boast a strong scientific underpinning, as retailers typically set up advisory boards composed of members of the medical community to develop their algorithms, and most weigh nutritional factors against established USDA or FDA guidelines.Yet there are also some important distinctions in these programs as well. One such difference lies in the formulas used to develop rankings or callouts for recommended products. NuVal includes an analysis of ingredients in its algorithm, as well as the nutritional facts panel, whereas other programs rely primarily on the latter information. "We were impressed with the breadth and scope of NuVal's system, as well as its scientific backing," says Kate McKenna, co-chair of the NuVal labeling program at Tops Friendly Markets.Mike Minasi, president of marketing at Safeway, argues that one of Simple Nutrition's strengths is that it avoids making an explicit product recommendation. Rather, the program awards a total of 22 "benefit messages" (e.g., "calorie smart" and "good source of fiber") to products that meet a lengthy set of nutritional criteria. "Our system doesn't attempt to rank products as good or bad for you. It only provides information that we think shoppers are looking for to drive their personal nutritional goals," he says.Minasi believes that this neutrality is an advantage in the eyes of food manufacturers, who would be more likely to complain if they received a low ranking on one of their products. "We've received no push back from manufacturers. They have not been terribly vocal about their views, but generally they've been supportive," he says. "Even if conventional grocers weren't doing these programs, manufacturers would still be doing product reformulations and launching new products that are relevant to current consumer behavior and health trends. That's their business."

Label Me Healthy

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