At-a-Glance Food Rating System Helps Consumers Make Nutritious Choices Quickly and Easily
Yakima, Wash. –Now entering its second decade of providing crisp quality and distinctive flavor to apple lovers around the world, the Pink Lady® Brand Apple has earned a coveted three Guiding Stars® for offering ‘the best nutritional value’ based on the Guiding Stars objective food-rating system.
“Because of the well-known nutritional aspects of apples, we’ve been busy establishing partnerships with a number of groups focused on healthy products,” says Alan Taylor, marketing director of Pink Lady America LLC.
“Our association with Guiding Stars is beneficial for a number of reasons, but especially because of its rigorous criteria as an objective food rating system.”
Designed as a simple, at-a-glance alternative to reading, comparing and decoding nutrition labels for consumers, the Guiding Stars program helps consumers quickly identify more nutritious food choices at the supermarket, public school lunchrooms and college dining halls.
The system rates more than 100,000 fresh, packaged and prepared foods based purely on their nutrient density using a scientific algorithm that incorporates current dietary guidelines and recommendations of leading national and international health organizations, including the U.S. FDA, USDA, the World Health Organization and more. Guiding Stars’ objective ratings take into account vitamin, mineral, dietary fiber and whole grain content, as well as the presence of fats, cholesterol, added sugar and added sodium. Price and brand are not considered in the evaluation of foods.
Rated foods are then marked with easy-to-follow tags indicating 0, 1, 2 or 3 stars, making it quick and easy for consumers to evaluate food choices. The more nutritional value a food has, the more Guiding Stars it receives. Foods that don’t meet the Guiding Stars criteria receive zero stars.
“Apples are nutritious and easy on-the-go snacks that earn three Guiding Stars for being rich in fiber and Vitamin C, and containing virtually no sodium or fat,” said John Eldredge, director of brand and business development for Guiding Stars. “We’re very pleased to add the Pink Lady variety to our rating system and online Food Finder.”
“Being rated by Guiding Stars is great news for our 220 Pink Lady® Brand Growers,” Taylor says. “It provides a substantial boost to that part of the Pink Lady® program regularly touting the healthful aspects of their apples!”
Pink Lady® growers produce more than four million boxes of apples per year, mostly in Washington State.
The Guiding Stars program is now available in 1,700 supermarkets in North America, as well as numerous in public schools, colleges, hospitals and corporate cafeterias. For more information about the Guiding Stars program, visit 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 recently 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 Food Lion, Hannaford, Sweetbay, Homeland, Kings Super Market and Marsh Supermarkets. 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 Pink Lady® Brand Apple
The Pink Lady® Brand Apple was developed more than 30 years ago in Western Australia by John Cripps as a natural cross between Lady Williams and Golden Delicious. The first apple with a trademark, it has since become an international favorite and well established in thousands of retail food stores. With more than three million boxes grown in Washington State and around 150,000 grown in California, it is the only truly pink apple in the supermarket. Available from early December through September, it has a distinctive sweet/tart flavor and is excellent eaten out of hand, a great cooking apple, and is considered to be one of the best apples for slices. For more information, visit www.pinkladyamerica.org.