Several weeks ago, Big Y, a northeast grocery chain, introduced a new brand with a story. The “no frills” branding of years ago is long gone, and simply stating the chain’s name on the packaging won’t do either. Consumers want healthy options. That’s how the “Eating Right” brand found itself at Big Y:

The fast growing, multi-category lifestyle brand offers shoppers a broad range of “better-for-you” foods throughout the store with products tailored to support specific dietary needs such as heart health, digestive health, bone health, immunity and weight management.

Among the Eating Right products now on offer at Big Y are Frozen Entrees, Cereal, Soups, Pasta, Salad Dressings, Snack bars, Cookies and more! The brand’s standout innovation is its unique “Spot Your Needs(TM)” system, which simplifies the process of finding delicious, better-for-you products without restricting shoppers from the great tasting foods they love. Whether they’re looking to drop weight, boost their immunity, improve digestion or meet other health goals, Eating Right offers great tasting choices to help shoppers achieve and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

read the full press release…

What you need to know:

Store brands and private labels are ever important in today’s economy. Many times the store brand can be 10-20% cheaper than a leading brand name, usually at the same quality level. In fact, many staples are manufactured in the same processing plants and are then packaged differently.

Lucerne Foods is a private food processor that sells products under its own brand name (milk and other dairy products) as well as private label manufacturing for supermarket chains. With 30 plants in the US, and boasting the buying power and financial resources of a Fortune 50 company, it is a formidable player in the food industry supply chain.

We did not receive answers from Lucerne to our questions about the Eating Right brand, specifically regarding any changes to food formulations (reduction in sugar? sodium?). We’d like to give them the benfit of the doubt, but there is little information to work with.

What to do at the supermarket:

While the news seems encouraging, don’t let green and healthy looking packaging persuade you to buy unhealthy food in disguise. Always take a look at the nutritional information and ingredient list to know exactly what you are getting. Look for hort ingredient lists with pronounceable names, as well as low fat, low sodium, and low sugar.

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