New At-a-Glance Food Rating System Helps Kansas City Shoppers Make Healthier Food Choices
Portland, ME and Kansas City, Mo. (April 9, 2013)- Aiming to help shoppers in Kansas City make more nutritious food selections for themselves and their families, Cosentino’s Food Stores and Guiding Stars, the nation’s leading independent nutrition guidance program, today announced the launch of the Guiding Stars at-a-glance food rating system at Cosentino’s Market and Sun Fresh locations in the Kansas City area.
The program is designed to help shoppers cut through the clutter and confusion of conflicting label claims about fat, sugar, calories and more with a simple, at-a-glance labeling system that identifies nutritious choices throughout the store.
“Busy shoppers often don’t have time to read and compare labels—they just want a reliable and trustworthy way to know what’s healthy and what’s not for themselves and their families,” said Sue Till, client services manager with Guiding Stars. “We’re very pleased to work with Cosentino’s to introduce Guiding Stars as part of their efforts to help improve the overall health and wellness of their customers.”
The Guiding Stars system rates the nutritional value of both packaged and fresh foods. The system credits all edible foods based on the presence of vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber and whole grains, and debits for the presence of trans fat, saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars and added sodium. Food items are then awarded zero, one, two or three stars—one star means good nutritional value; two stars, better nutritional value; and three stars, the best nutritional value. All items are evaluated using a patented algorithm based on the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other national evidence-based nutrition policies.
“Guiding Stars’ combination of science-based nutritional analysis with its simple at-a-glance shelf tags, signs and labels made it the ideal fit for our stores and our customers,” said Cosentino’s Marketing Director Mark Winslow.
Guiding Stars labels will appear throughout each participating store, and shoppers can find more information about the program at www.staging.guidingstars.com.
About Guiding Stars Licensing Co.
Since 2006, Guiding Stars has been leading the way in helping consumers make nutritious food choices and has received a U.S. Patent for the Guiding Stars nutrition rating algorithm. The Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program is a simple, easy-to-understand tool for making good nutrition choices and is designed to make a positive and lasting impact on public health. Guiding Stars is currently found in more than 1,700 supermarkets including Hannaford, Food Lion, Sweetbay, Homeland, Marsh, as well as Loblaw’s Supermarkets in Ontario. Guiding Stars has also expanded into public schools, colleges and hospitals and appears on the Shopper mobile iPhone application. Additional information can be found at www.staging.guidingstars.com.
About Cosentino’s Food Stores
The Cosentino family opened its first store in 1948, and will celebrate its 65th year in business this year. Then and now, we do business as a family owned company investing in our local community, and aspire to provide excellent customer service in an exceptionally clean shopping environment. Cosentino’s Food Stores currently operates 26 stores in the Kansas City area under the Price Chopper, Sun Fresh, Apple Market, and Cosentino’s Market banners.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Maya Pattison
SS|PR for Guiding Stars
(781) 894-1739