November 06, 2006

Rate your food

Today's New York Times has an interesting article on a grocery chain that has started rating its food. Three stars indicates that its pretty healthy for you. Zero, or one star, not so much. They take a number of factors into account - sodium, added sugar, fat content, vitamins, minerals, and fiber content. I love this! I think so many people are fooled by food manufacturers touting fat-free this and sugar-free that, that they forget to look at the big picture. So many of the packaged foods that brag of being free of something compensate by adding something else that's not so great. I'm all for convenience, but I'm not all for super sweet foods masquerading as breakfast, or eating all of my sodium for the day in one sitting. Obviously, no one has to buy only the foods that get three stars, but its nice to see someone trying to lift the wool off people's eyes.

Posted by Shokufeh at November 6, 2006 05:57 PM
Comments

That is so cool! Which stores are doing this? Did it say?

Posted by: Mouzhan at November 6, 2006 08:31 PM

Thanks for the article link. I had suspected that V8 was really a worthless food and now the star system confirms it.

Posted by: Jennifer at November 6, 2006 09:36 PM

Oooh, thanks for sharing that!

Posted by: Emily at November 6, 2006 09:46 PM

Hey thats Hannaford! Theres one around the corner from us.
Check out the story here:
http://www.hannaford.com/Contents/Healthy_Living/Guiding_Stars/index.shtml

I havent been in the store since I started hearing the (horribly bad) radio ads for it - so I havent seen the stars myself - but it is insteresting - and a step above and beyond for sure. and as an added bonus, they're a bit cheaper than the other major supermarket in the area. Thanks for reminding me of that, I'll have to check it out soon.

Posted by: Abby at November 7, 2006 06:08 AM

Oh - didn't notice there was a link. Thanks!

Posted by: Mouzhan at November 7, 2006 09:22 AM

That is a great idea.

Posted by: Freckle Face Girl at November 7, 2006 09:32 AM

What a great idea! It's scary sometimes to see what other people have in their shopping carts, mostly because I don't think they consider or understand the health value of the food they buy. A system like this goes a long way toward getting people educated about what they're putting into their (and their kids') bodies. Kudos to Hannaford!

Posted by: Arin at November 7, 2006 05:57 PM