SpartanNash rolls out Nutrition Pathways to highlight healthy options
SpartanNash is bringing a new way to highlight the health benefits of various products to three of its banners. The company is rolling out its Nutrition Pathways — nutrition and lifestyle attributes meant to help shoppers easily identify such product features as heart healthy, sustainable, organic and other key elements — to its Family Fare, D&W Fresh Market and VG’s Grocery stores, with plans to expand to all of its banners and stores by March.
Shelf tags in the participating stores feature Nutrition Pathways attributes at the bottom of them, allowing shoppers to see as many as four different features for each product.
The Nutrition Pathways likely will serve to highlight both name brands and SpartanNash’s suite of store brands, including Our Family; Open Acres, which focuses on food with little-to-no processing and real ingredients; and Full Circle Market, which offers organic options, among others. It also likely will highlight the company's Tuppy Toes baby products and its Pure Harmony pet food products, which are positioned as higher-quality options.
“Our customers are looking for healthier choices — but it can be time consuming to read through nutrition facts panels and ingredient lists and difficult to know exactly what fits into your diet,” Chief Merchandising and Marketing Executive Lori Raya said. “With Nutrition Pathways, we’ve done all the hard work for you, so your shopping trips can be quick, convenient and, most importantly, fit within your lifestyle or wellness journey.”
The company said that its regional wellness specialists used industry standards and evidence-based nutrition guidelines to create each Nutrition Pathway.
“What we eat is a huge contributor to many chronic diseases, and eating a healthier diet helps prevent and treat many of these conditions,” said interventional cardiologist Barbara Karenko, who is director of Metro Health – University of Michigan Health. “Food works as preventive medicine to keep us healthy and is essential to a person’s well-being.”
The full Nutrition Pathways attribute lineup includes:
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- Heart healthy – The product is considered ‘heart healthy’ by the American Heart Association (AHA) and contains less than 10 g of added sugar per serving;
- Five or less ingredients – The product has five or fewer ingredients;
- High fiber – The product has at least 5 g of fiber per serving;
- Whole grain – The first ingredient in this product is a whole grain;
- No added sugar – The product does not contain any added sugar;
- Low sodium – The product has 140 mg or less sodium per serving.
- Good source protein – The product contains at least five grams of protein;
- Gluten free – The product is gluten-free;
- Nut free – The product is free of tree nuts and peanuts;
- Lactose free – The product does not contain any lactose;
- Non-dairy – The product does not contain dairy or milk ingredients;
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- Free from – The product is free from the eight major allergens (milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and soy), antibiotics, high fructose corn syrup, hormones, partially hydrogenated oil ingredients, pesticides, nitrates and nitrates;
- Nothing artificial – The product does not contain artificial color, artificial flavor, artificial sweetener or artificial preservatives;
- Vegan (plant-based) – The product does not contain animal by-products or any animal ingredients;
- Kosher – The product is Kosher;
- Organic – The product is considered organic;
- Non-GMO – The product does not contain any genetically modified ingredients;
- Sustainable – The product has a claim or certification that includes: B Corp, Biobased, BPA Free, Carbon Footprint, Dolphin Safe, Environmentally Friendly, Ethical, Fair Trade, Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, Marine Stewardship Council, Rainforest Alliance Certification and others;
- Fragrance free – The beauty, baby or household product does not contain fragrance ingredients based on a derived analysis of the ingredient statement or makes a fragrance-free claim;
- Hypoallergenic – The beauty, baby or household product claims to be hypoallergenic;
- Paraben free – This beauty, baby or household product does not contain paraben ingredients based on a derived analysis of the ingredient statement or makes a paraben-free claim; and
- Meat first – The first ingredient in the ingredients statement of a pet food product is identified to be a meat-containing ingredient. You will find this pathway in the Pet Food section.
SpartanNash said the Nutrition Pathways effort is part of its Living Well initiatives, which includes a focus on organic offerings, free and reduced-price prescriptions at pharmacies, children's programming and regional wellness specialists who serve stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and the greater Omaha, Neb., area.