ROTTERDAM Price Chopper mulls nutrition ratings BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter James Schlett at 395-3040 or jschlett@dailygazette.net.
Price Chopper is looking to get into the game of keeping score on the nutritional value of products sold throughout its supermarkets. Topco Associates, a Skokie, Ill.-based cooperative of thousands of grocery stores nationwide, is preparing to launch a nutrition quality rating system for its members, who include Price Chopper. The Rotterdam supermarket chain Friday sent its corporate nutritionist to Washington, D.C., to listen to presentations on the rating system. “This is a much more comprehensive thing than anything on the landscape, and it will rate anything out there,” said Mona Golub, a spokeswoman for Price Chopper, which has not yet agreed to use Topco’s scoring system. Topco’s Overall Nutritional Quality Index will be similar to the Hannaford Supermarkets Guiding Stars program. The Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford rolled out that program in September. While Hannaford’s system uses one to three stars to signify nutritional value, Topco’s system scores products on a scale of one to 100. During the second quarter of 2008, Topco plans to launch its ONQI program, which uses an algorithm that incorporates 30 nutritional factors. The index was developed independently by 12 top health and nutrition experts, led by Dr. David Katz, the director of the Yale University-Griffin Hospital Prevention Research Center in Derby, Conn. Hannaford convened a panel of scientifi c medical advisors from Harvard, Tufts, Dartmouth and other universities to create its guiding Stars formula. Guiding Stars weighs a product’s vitamins, minerals, fibers and whole grains against its trans fats, saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars and added sodium. The race to rate the food and beverage products comes as weight-conscious consumers increasingly seek guidance for healthy eating habits. By offering that guidance, Hannaford managed to boost sales of rated products. The Maine chain in September said sales of products with one or more nutritional stars sold 2.5 to 4.5 times faster than food items lacking them. The Guiding Star program has been rolled out at 164 Northeast Hannafords and 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida. Food Lion stores should adopt the program next year. Those three chains are owned by the Belgian Delhaize Group, which is expanding the program to other supermarket chains it owns. Price Chopper has 116 stores in six states. Hannaford’s program grades over 25,000 food items, and the chain is expanding the program to include more items on its shelves. But Topco said it will score significantly more food items, “The system will rate 100 percent of what’s available to consumers so they can truly compare,” Golub said of ONQI. Topco is a cooperative with 62 member owners, who include regional grocery chains, food services companies and food distributors. Combined, Topco’s members exert the second-highest level of food buying power in the nation, trailing only Wal-Mart Stores. They account for $110 billion in consumer sales each year. The co-op is partnering with Yale-Griffi n to apply the ONQI to food items its members purchase. Members can chose whether to adopt the ONQI program. “We will join forces with them to bring it to market. It’s good science, but good science in academic book doesn’t help much,” said Topco spokeswoman Virginia Mann. Golub said a decision on whether Price Chopper will sell display the ONQI scores should come shortly.
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