Shoppers Food Warehouse Launches Nutrition IQ and a #Giveaway!

I grocery shop for my family with health in mind. I search the aisles for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack foods. I don’t read every food label, but I do care about the health value of the food I buy. I want to start focusing more on the healthiness of the foods I purchase each week. With that in mind, I was thrilled to be invited to a presentation on nutrition last week.

I had the pleasure of participating in a roundtable discussion with Shoppers Food Warehouse nutritionist, Jennifer Shea. Shoppers Food Warehouse rolled out its nutrition IQ program last week.

nutrition IQ program is designed to “help consumers make better-informed, better-for-you food choices right at the grocery store shelf.”
nutrition IQ was developed with the Joslin Clinic, which is part of an academic medical center affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
nutrition IQ is available in the 62 Shoppers Food Warehouses in the greater D.C. and Baltimore area.

The nutrition IQ program comes as research shows that consumers are having difficulty making sense of nutrition guidelines. Consumers want to find an easier way to make informed decisions about what they feed their families. The nutrition IQ program uses easy-to-see, color-coded shelf tags, hung near the items price tag to help consumers quickly identify healthier food choices for their families.

The tags — details about the program can be found at nutritioniq.shoppersfood.com — help consumers find an easy way to eat smarter. The color-coded tags on each shelf represent the following nutrients in products:

Excellent Source of FIBER (orange tag)
Good Source of FIBER (orange tag)
Excellent source of CALCIUM (blue tag)
Good source of CALCIUM (blue tag)
Low SODIUM (green tag)
Healthier Level SODIUM (green tag)
Excellent source of PROTEIN (yellow tag)
Good source of PROTEIN (yellow tag)
Whole GRAINS (orange-red tag)
Low Calorie (purple)
Low SATURATED FAT (red tag)

I toured the Shoppers Food Warehouse in Potomac Yards, Virginia, with the Shoppers nutritionist, Jennifer Shea. After checking out the cereal, yogurt, and pasta aisles, I got the hang of examining the labels. I compared the brand name product to the generic in the cereal aisle to see why one of the products had the label and one did not.

The next time I shop at Shoppers I will look at products with a more critical eye now that I know more about nutrition and the nutrition IQ program.

DC — MD — VA Readers of Musings from Me! I have a fabulous giveaway for my cost-conscious LOCAL readers. What is it? What is this fabulous item? A Shoppers Food Warehouse $25 gift card! One comment = one entry. There is one winner. Enter now!

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I was given a bag of food and a Shoppers Food Warehouse gift card (I am giving away the gift card as I live a little too far from a Shoppers Food Warehouse) as part of my participation in the nutrition IQ tour. The views expressed in this article are my own. The giveaway will end May 25 at 11:59 p.m. The giveaway is open to those near a Shoppers Food Warehouse in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.