• Beverage Daily, Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:47 AM

Supervalu, the third-largest grocery retailer in the U.S., announced last week that it was starting a nutrition iQ program in its wide range of stores as part of "a business strategy to drive consumer loyalty."

Color coding on store shelves, rather than on packaging, will draw attention to the top nutritional benefits of about 10% of the stock.

But chef-tuned-journalist Caroline Scott-Thomas says the seven colors themselves seem to be almost randomly selected. For example, dark green stands for low sodium, purple for low calorie and red for low saturated fat. She suggests that all parties slow down a bit and try to figure out what actually works.

"Everyone from government to grocers seems to have their own idea of how best to inform consumers about foods' nutritional content," Scott-Thomas writes, "but a labeling free-for-all has resulted in a clamor of nutrition labels which are actually getting in the way of comprehension."

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