• USA Today, Tuesday, January 10, 2012 11:11 AM

A growing number of grocers are signing up to have the foods they sell evaluated and ranked for nutritional content by third-party ratings companies. Two such companies, NuVal and Guiding Stars, license their scoring systems to more than 3,000 grocery stores nationwide, according to officials at the companies.

Guiding Stars uses a system of three stars to signify which foods are healthiest. Three stars is the best ranking. NuVal uses a 100-point system: The higher the score, the better the nutritional content. King Soopers supermarkets in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming include nutrition ratings by NuVal. Lowes Foods, which has 107 stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, unveiled NuVal in August.

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