Albertsons to tag products with nutrition information

Grocers are rolling out storewide nutritional information programs, under pressure from health groups to attack the nation's obesity problem. For instance, Supervalu, the nation's No. 3 grocer, which also owns Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco and other chains, debuted shelf tags that indicate which foods are high in fiber or low in saturated fat. Their program was developed in collaboration with Joslin Clinic, a group affiliated with the Harvard Medical School. 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.

Smaller chains like Hannaford Bros. Co., based in Scarborough, Maine, launched a three-star system of good, better and best called Guiding Stars in September 2006.

Supervalu's approach "sounds helpful and good," said Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. But it doesn't go far enough, he argued. For example, it's useful to know which ice cream, cookies or other junk food is the best for you, and Supervalu won't be rating those types of foods for its nutrition tags.

The other issue is that there is no continuity among the nutrition groups that are hired by grocers. Jacobson is an advocate of one national system for the supermarket industry that has been tested to make sure it best encourages consumers to choose the most healthful foods.

Bonnie - this just sets the consumer up for more confusion. If the nutrition experts hired to create the labeling systems are all following the USDA guidelines, the effort will be meaningless. In addition, not putting labels on junk food is a joke. The grocers want it both ways: they don't want to be the "food police," yet they want to placate the government officials and public health experts that are calling for more effort in addressing the obesity epidemic.

At least Hannaford created good, better, and best labels, which leaves the consuumer to ponder the purchase items without these ratings.