Get a Load of This: A Corporate Grocer’s Own Research Confirms Three-Fourths of Its Products Are Garbage

You probably suspect when you roam a grocery store that three-fourths of the products are nutritionally worthless. But the last place you’d expect to confirm your hunch is with the grocer stocking all the chips, dips, and sugary cereals.

Well, a Northeast food chain, Hannaford Brothers, has done just that. It assembled a panel of nutrition experts and had it assess its 27,000 products, with the idea of awarding one to three stars to each as “good, better, best” in nutritional value. Lo and behold, 77% of the items received NO STARS.

Both CNN and The New York Times have done reports on the Hannaford system, which is believed to be the first of its type anywhere. The Times reports, for example, that items corporate producers promote as healthy, like V8 vegetable juice, Nature Valley Healthy Heart granola bars, Campbell's Healthy Request tomato soup, and Health Choice meals, are tabbed as nearly worthless—given no stars—by Hannaford because of excessive sodium.

Not surprisingly, the corporate producers of the foods hyped as nutritious and now exposed as worthless aren’t pleased. They are quoted as questioning whether Hannaford should be acting as nutritional arbiter. I wonder who’s going to win this battle. If Hannaford doesn't get intimidated, it could win, since retailers hold the balance of power in most supplier-retailer relationships. Just look at Wal-Mart. Producers need the distributors more than the other way around.

In any event, imagine a grocery store filled with nutritious products. A pretty far-fetched fantasy.

Comments

[LDF]

Have you ever been to a Food Co-op? Hang out in the produce section (featuring local foods in their whole natural state) and then go to the bulk section. Another fabulous place with lots of nutrition. Co-ops are grocery stores. And they are real!
I avoid supermarkets - but when I do go I'm amazed at all the non food that is there.

[David Gumpert]

LDF, you are absolutely right about food co-ops. Unfortunately, very few Americans have been to food co-ops. Even the next best thing, Whole Foods, has over the years moved away from its original mission of promoting healthy food (with no sugar, caffeine, corn starch allowed) and now stocks lots of "non food."
But this development by Hannaford Brothers is a positive development, in my view, because it helps educate people about nutrition. Education is key to changing buying habits.

[LDF]

I agree, education is the key. I teach a High School class that includes a section on nutrition. We watch the movie "The Future of Food". All about GMOs and the manipulation of food, by Deborah Garcia.
Many of the students have said it has changed their understanding of food, and especially they now understand the importance of simple, local, sustainable, and organic food.

Keep up the good work!

[Kat]

"Education is key to changing buying habits" Absolutely!

Thank you, David for publishing this blog- I for one truly appreciate it!

[David Gumpert]

I've got a request in to Netflix for "The Future of Food". Thanks for the tip.

[Patrick Sullivan Jr.]

Great story. Very encouraging! Unfortunately, soy made the list of health foods. David, you should do a story about soy! Very interesting history.
http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_controversy.html

PS - The Future of Food was very eye-opening. I wrote a review about it on Pat Sullivan Blog.
http://www.patsullivan.com/blog/2006/04/the_future_of_f.html