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Ahold Delhaize USA to report healthy food sales

Supermarket retailer teams with Partnership for a Healthier America to promote ‘better for you’ food sales data transparency

Russell Redman

October 7, 2020

3 Min Read
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Starting this year Ahold Delhaize USA — the operator of Stop & Shop, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Food Lion and Hannaford — will annually report the percentage of total-store food sales generated from private- and national-brand products earning star ratings in its Guiding Stars nutrition program.Giant Food

Ahold Delhaize USA plans to publicly disclose the percentage of food sales from healthier products via a collaboration with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA).

Starting this year and then annually thereafter, Ahold Delhaize USA — the operator of East Coast supermarket chains Stop & Shop, Giant Food, The Giant Company, Food Lion and Hannaford — will report the percentage of total-store food sales generated from private- and national-brand products earning star ratings in its Guiding Stars nutrition program.

Plans call for at least 54% of private-label food sales — including store-brand products and unbranded bulk items — across Ahold Delhaize USA grocery chains to achieve one-, two- or three-star ratings under Guiding Stars by June 2025. 

“Providing customers with affordable, nutritious food every day and leveraging our collective scale to move the needle on important public health issues is integral to our mission to make a local impact with a greater purpose,” Brittni Furrow, vice president of sustainable retailing and healthy living at Ahold Delhaize USA, said in a statement. “We look forward to this new partnership and working collaboratively to create a healthier America.”

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Under the Guiding Stars rating system, one star indicates that a product has “good” nutritional value, two stars signifies “better” nutritional value and three stars means “the best” nutritional value.

In announcing the plan on Wednesday, PHA said Ahold Delhaize USA’s commitment marks the largest pledge by a U.S. grocery retailer to boost healthier food sales and transparency. A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, PHA partners with the private sector to help transform the food landscape to foster “health equity.” 

Related:Bashas’ expands Double Up Food Bucks to encourage healthy shopping

“With this commitment, Ahold Delhaize USA has raised the bar for grocery retailers. This is a win for consumers, through increased sales of healthier foods, and a win for public health through greater transparency of healthier sales data,” commented Nancy Roman, president and CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America. “When companies are committed to not only stocking healthier options, but also encouraging sales of those items, real change can happen.”

Described as a “nutritional navigation” program, Guiding Stars employs a patented algorithm that analyzes and translates nutrition information into a user-friendly, star-based rating system. One star indicates that a product has “good” nutritional value, two stars signifies “better” nutritional value and three stars means “the best” nutritional value. If no Guiding Stars symbol is shown, the item is not nutritionally recommended, not rated yet because it’s new, contains fewer than five calories (such as water or tea), is a dietary supplement or medical food (such as baby formula) or has no nutritional information available.

Related:Stop & Shop launches online dietitian program

An Ahold Delhaize USA subsidiary, Portland, Maine-based Guiding Stars launched at Hannaford in 2006 and at Food Lion in 2007 and then was expanded to Giant Food, Giant/Martin’s and Stop & Shop in 2018.

“Guiding Stars is designed to help customers shop for foods with more nutrition,” stated Julie Greene, director of Guiding Stars. “By providing the threshold for better nutrition, Guiding Stars enables Ahold Delhaize USA to measure its efforts in this space.”

Overall, Ahold Delhaize USA operates 16 traditional and e-commerce distribution centers that supply 1,971 grocery stores in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and fulfill more than 6 million annualized online grocery orders. At its Capital Markets Day investor event in November 2018, Ahold Delhaize USA said it aimed to have 50% of its own-brand food sales recognized for good nutritional value by 2020 and to further improve the health benefits and sustainability of its food brands by 2025.

Other PHA grocery retail partners include Festival Foods, Hy-Vee, The Fresh Grocer and Walmart, as well as drug chain Walgreens, distributors Supervalu (United Natural Foods Inc.) and McLane Co., and a range of convenience store operators.

PHA was formed in 2010 in tandem with Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort to reduce childhood obesity through improved nutrition and exercise.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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