The nation’s largest supermarket chain, Kroger, has rolled out the NuVal nutrition scoring system to 23 Lexington, Kentucky stores to help shoppers make healthier food choices. The scoring system gives each food a score, from 1 to 100. Foods with high scores are more nutritious, foods with low scores are less. Shoppers also have the added confidence that the ranking system is provided by a third party, not food or beverage producers. NuVal was developed by nutrition and medical experts from top health organizations and universities.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the NuVal scores is how poorly some of the “health” foods ranked against regular snacks. For example, Garden of Eatin’ no salt added blue corn chips actually score better than an Odwalla Fruit smoothie: the chips earn a score of 52 while the smoothie gets a 49. Fresh fruits and vegetables get scores near to 100.
Other grocery stores that offer NuVal scores include Super 1 Foods Stores and Brookshire Grocery Co. stores in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
We applaud Kroger’s efforts to educate the public about healthy foods. We hope that they will implement the the NuVal system in all its stores nation-wide.
Sources: BNET and Kroger.com
Also Read:
New Food Ranking System, NuVal, Makes Nutritional Food Choices Easy to Find
Nutrient Rich Foods Index Ranks Nutritional Quality of Food
Making Sense of the New Healthy Food Labels