PLBuyer: Nutritional Scoring Tool Introduced - and Challenged
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of a current article from Private Label Buyer, presented here for discussion
Topco Associates has come out with a new nutritional new scoring system, the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI), that uses a numeric score to rate any food item or recipe. The rating system uses a complex algorithm that incorporates nearly 30 nutrient factors and expresses them via a scoring scale of 1 to 100.
ONQI was developed by a panel of a dozen health nutrition experts under the leadership of Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University-Griffin Hospital Prevention Research Center. Plans call for introducing ONQI nationwide by the summer of 2008.
"[We'll] be executing a comprehensive plan to bring ONQI to market," said Steve Lauer, president and CEO of Topco. "The plan includes all the components necessary to educate consumers about ONQI, including an online presence, in-store marketing, public relations and advertising."
Topco signed on to license the index to its members, manufacturers, restaurants and other foodservice businesses, and to promote the system through an ONQI-oriented web site. At participating grocery stores, index scores will be posted on shelf price tags under each product. Depending on manufacturer interest, the scores also may be incorporated into food packaging and labels.
"Including the ONQI score on the product package is totally voluntary," Mr. Lauer said. "However, in the pursuit of improved public health, participating retailers will be making available to consumers all ONQI scores."
The concept of rating food based on point values or symbols indicating healthfulness is not new to grocery retail. In fact, according to an article report published in The New York Times, "the success and popularity of other programs such as the Guiding Stars rating system from Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford Brothers Co., Kraft's Sensible Solutions and even Pepsico's Smart Spot, has sparked concern in the food retail industry on how effective the various food rating systems are when compared to one another."
So what makes ONQI different?
"ONQI was born of pure science with no commercial interests influencing its creation," Mr. Lauer replied. "Having the ability to rate every food, beverage or recipe, and with the 1-100 'at-a-glance' scoring system, ONQI is a comprehensive, independent nutritional rating system for all foods that can be applied universally. The ONQI is the only system with all these features, making it much more effective than anything else available."
Mr. Lauer said the overall response to the concept so far has been positive.
"Retailers and manufacturers know that consumers are interested in cutting through the clutter in order to make food choices based on nutritional value," he said. "A universal, unbiased system like the ONQI will help them do just that."
Discussion Question: What do you think of the simplicity of QNQI's 1-100 'at-a-glance' scoring system? Is it healthy or unhealthy for the grocery industry that so many nutritional scoring systems are being developed?