“Your neighborhood store with more” is living up to its tagline.

Tops Friendly Markets has implemented a national campaign for its grocery chain that emphasizes healthier eating. NuVal, a nutritional scoring system, gives food a number from 1-100, depending on its health value. The higher the score, the healthier it is.

Each NuVal score is based on “more than just the nutritional fact panel. It considers 30-plus nutrients and nutrition factors — the good (protein, calcium, vitamins) and the not-so-good (sugar, sodium, cholesterol). Then it boils it down to a simple, easy-to-use number; a number you can trust to make better decisions about nutrition in just a few seconds,” according to the Tops website.

“We put numbers on the side of the tag that show the range of how healthy the item is so people can look directly at the tag and know, on a scale of 1-100, how healthy that item is in comparison to others items,” said Tops employee Kayla Saltamach.

The numbers are placed on the food item’s shelf label next to the price, but if the shopper doesn’t know what the number stands for, there is no nearby explanation given to explain what NuVal is. The program has been implemented for more than a year, with more items added to the NuVal grading list on an ongoing basis.

When asked to explain the program, most employees in the Tops Market near South Campus said they did not know what NuVal was.

Saltamach, a price maintenance employee at Tops, has been working at the South Campus location for a little more than two years. She said she wishes the program was better advertised now, similar to when the program was first launched.

“When they first came out with it, there were pamphlets all over, but I think a lot of people don’t really pay attention to it. It’s not really advertised as much as it should be, in my opinion,” Saltamach said.

Go to the Tops Market website, however, and the NuVal program is advertised as a game. Players compare the numbers of similar food items to guess which one is healthier and earn scores for correct answers. Then, the items’ true scores are displayed, furthering shoppers’ knowledge.

Although Saltamach doesn’t use the NuVal program during her everyday shopping trips, she said she encourages others to implement it when they shop for new items.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Saltamach said. “I’m pretty brand-loyal myself, but if it’s something I haven’t tried or something I need for a recipe, I’ll look and see the NuVal score and try to pick the one with the highest, just to make sure I’m eating well.”

Thanks to the NuVal program, Tops is attempting to make eating healthier easier for every shopper. According to the website, an apple has 96 NuVal points, so a 96 a day really does keep the doctor away.

Published on October 20, 2013 at 11:26 pm

Contact Kristin: klross01@syr.edu | @kriskross22