R&D: Change Customers Can Read -- September 2009
One company’s new nutritional scoring program hopes to distill complicated nutrition information into a single number. Supermarket chains Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and Meijer are the first in the U.S. to feature this innovative system.
The NuVal™ Nutritional Scoring System gives all food a score between 1-100; the higher the score, the higher the nutrition. Scores are displayed on the shelf-tag, next to the price. Using the NuVal system, customers can easily discover the more nutritious products in a store, says the company. Consumers wanting to know what cereals (or crackers or cookies) have more nutrition only need to look at the NuVal scores and choose the higher number.
Additionally, the company claims, consumers will get more nutrition for their budget, as they can now compare items side-by-side and determine which product offers better value—not only in price, but in nutrition as well. For instance, consumers may find some varieties of frozen or canned vegetables score the same as fresh produce on the NuVal scale.
Consumers can also better compare name brand to store brand products. In many instances, they will learn that a store’s private label item is just as nutritious as the more expensive national one.
All scores are determined from the data on a product’s
nutrition and ingredient labels. NuVal is featured in more than 500
supermarkets across the country. For more information on how NuVal works, as
well as more than 800 sample scores on a variety of foods, visit www.nuval.com.
-- Barbara T. Nessinger, Associate
Editor
For more information:
NuVal LLC • Braintree, Mass.
Annette Maggi • 651-319-7874
amaggi@nuval.com • www.nuval.com
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