New Wellness Program Under Way at Save-A-Lot

ST. LOUIS — Discount retailer Save-A-Lot has teamed with ConAgra Foods and food industry analyst Phil Lempert to execute and promote a new wellness program.

The initiative focuses on Save-A-lot's new Smart Selections products: sugar-free jam, low-sodium soup and several dozen others that are better-for-you options that cost the same price per ounce as their traditional counterparts.

All items are marketed under Save-A-Lot's existing controlled brands, but carry a Smart Selections logo on the front of the package. Along with Save-A-Lot's brands, the effort promotes ConAgra products like Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers and Hunt's no-added-sugar crushed tomatoes.

Save-A-Lot has developed shopping lists and recipes that include better-for-you products. Lempert's role is to publicize the program in online videos, in-store signage, his regular appearances on the television show "The View," and in other ways. Lempert expects the effort to be received well because low-income shoppers increasingly want to eat healthier for financial reasons.

"They can't afford to go to a doctor," Lempert told SN.

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