WIN $25 Gift Card to Celebrate Safeway’s New “Simple Nutrition” System

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I was contacted a couple weeks ago about Safeway's new "Simple Nutrition" program. "What is the "Simple Nutrition" program," you might ask (I did).

According to their promotional materials,

SimpleNutrition is a proprietary in-store shelf tag system, designed to help our customers find better nutrition choices among foods and beverages most important to them and their families. Green shelf tags are located throughout the store next to our Everyday Low Prices and Club Card specials. SimpleNutrition offers customers nutritional guidance and information in printed materials available in stores and in additional online resources including articles, tips, recipes and more.

Collaborating with nutritionists and food labeling experts, Safeway has devised this shelf tag system to alert customers to products that meet certain nutritional criteria. Among these, are 4 categories for lifestyle/dietary needs: Gluten Free, Organic, Natural and Calorie Smart

I asked Safeway about these designations, and how they determined which products could be labeled "Gluten Free." It is often difficult for consumers to determine whether an item is truly free of gluten, so I was interested to know how Safeway stores would assign this label. Turns out, they rely on the manufacturer to do so. It makes sense, as neither Safeway, nor any other grocer, realistically has the ability to determine if each food manufacturer‘s products are truly gluten-free. Unfortunately, at this writing, it’d be a short list if they restricted this designation to only those products that are verified by an independent certification organization. What’s more, the two most popular programs don’t even agree on a standard:  the Gluten Free Certification Organization – GFCO – certifying at 10 parts per million (ppm) of gluten or less, and the Celiac Sprue Association insisting on 5 ppm or less.

Yes, I’m beating my food-labeling drum again: we need a federal standard for "Gluten Free." (See the American Celiac Disease Alliance for details.) Such a standard would educate and protect both consumers and manufacturers, and while we're on the subject, grocers.  At this point, Safeway, and any other progressive food stores attempting to help consumers locate and choose safe foods, simply can’t be certain of the true gluten-free status of any product on its shelf unless it is independently certified by one of the aforementioned organizations. It is because of this situation that Safeway should get behind the groundswell of grassroots sentiment in the gluten-free community, calling for such a federal labeling standard. It would make their tags more reliable and would further ease consumer concern over accurate package labels.

Until such time as the FDA enacts a federal gluten-free standard for food labeling, Safeway's tags are a good start. However, it remains incumbent upon each of us as gluten-free consumers to read and weigh the information provided on each food package. Is it worth the risk to try a cereal that is not independently certified as gluten-free, when it is made in a facility that also produces gluten-containing cereals? Is it wise to choose a can of beans which is not labeled gluten-free, but has no gluten listed on its label? These are decisions we have to make every day, and even with such a tag system, we will still have to make for ourselves.

I applaud Safeway for recognizing a need and for developing this program to help its customers make better, safer food choices. Once incorporated into Safeway’s on-line shopping site, I think the benefits of this program will be even more evident, with category searches that can limit page views to just foods with certain nutritional tags. And cnce food labeling in gluten-free becomes more reliable, this system could be a real Godsend to shoppers saddled with dietary restrictions.

Here's a look at what their typical store shelves are starting to look like (if you haven’t seen these tags at a Safeway near you, expect to see them appear soon). Each tag can have one or two "benefits" called out, and should make it faster to locate products fitting your nutritional needs. I have heard some chatter that the tags are confusing because they are so populous. I can see the point, and Safeway should be careful that tagging too many products with too many similarly colored labels could cause label fatigue and defeat the program’s purpose. I expect these kinks will be worked out in due time through customer feedback though, and I still net out thinking that these tags will benefit many customers, not only those shopping for gluten-free.

To celebrate this new program and to encourage everyone to check it out for themselves, Safeway has given me THREE 25$ GIFT CARDS to give to three lucky grocery shoppers! These cards are good for purchases made at Safeway, Vons, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Pavilions and Carrs.

The contest ended Monday March 7, 2011 12:00 pm EST.

Three winners were picked at random (using Random.org). The winners are:

Charlene Schwieger; Brenda; & Sharon (as listed in comments below).

Go to gfJules™ Flour on Facebook and send me a message OR email [email protected] with how to contact you so that I can get your $25 gift card to you asap! If we don't hear from you by March 15, new winners will be selected.

Thanks for all your thoughts on Safeway's new system. Customer feedback from people like us is what will shape labeling systems like Simple Nutrition, and make them better!

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  1. Thank you Jules and Safeway for the $25 giftcard!

    I spent my giftcard only on gluten free items during my trip to Safeway. I have to admit that I haven’t shopped there in many years. I spent 90 minutes in the store going up and own each aisle to try to see everything!

    I was able to try a few brands that I hadn’t seen before and was pleased to see the GF tags on every aisle, not just the 3 foot dedicated GF section. It did make locating items a bit easier, but with all the Club Card tags and other things hanging off the shelf, you had to look carefully to find what you were looking for. Some products were marked with just “Natural” on the shelf labels, when they had GF labeling on their packaging, so maybe they ran short on the GF ones(?)

    Overall it’s a BIG step forward, especially for the newly diagnosed gluten sensitive/celiac, and for those who shop for them. Safeway carried a varied assortment of GF offerings, but as with all items make sure to read the labels!

    Thanks again and keep up the good work. We ALL appreciate it!

    Char

    Reply
    • Thank you so much Charlene, for taking the time to share your experience with the the Simple Nutrition tags. I agree that it seems like there maybe are too many tags, which makes it harder to find the ones that are “gluten free.” I also agree that this is a big step forward and I applaud Safeway for these strides in the right direction! Feedback is the only way they will know how to modify or adapt the system to better fit consumers’ needs. Glad you had fun using the gift card you won!!!

      Reply
  2. I liked you on FB. We have Safeway here in Sa Francisco. I applaud this new labelling. Even if some of the products are not completely to my liking or needs, it is a help to have a possibility culled from the masses of stuff on the store shelves.

    Reply
  3. i have been gluten Free for the past 4 years, I feel great and I’m very pleased to see GF stuff becoming more and more evident.i like your FB page. the labeling thing is genius!

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  4. Of course I “like” you. I’m so excited stores are improving and streamlining our gf shopping experience. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

    Reply
  5. Have “liked” you of FB for awhile now. I have friends who are GF and I like to have foods in my house that they can feel comfortable eating without having to ask if they are GF. I love the fact that Safeway is making it easier for me to find such products rather than having to make a special trip to a “specialty” store. It is also healthier for us as a family. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  6. I already liked your FB page :)

    I’d love to see a universal GF symbol or certification. I’d also love for soy to be added to the GF title for my own ease but that’s never going to happen :)

    Reply
  7. Like your page and LOVE that Vons is jumping on the GF labeling bandwagon! We’re so grateful that my son was diagnosed at the cusp of gluten free awareness 5 years ago!!

    Reply
  8. What Safeway. Is doing is making shopping easier for us celiac people..I don’t have to drive all over town as much to get special foods..I ” like” you on fb

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  9. I have liked you on facebook for a long time!!! Love reading your posts and the comments others make on your page as well.

    I appreciate any retail store or manufacturer that is making the effort to help those gluten free. Thank you!

    Reply
  10. I like your page and I liked it because I love cooking and since I just found out I am allergic your recipe are helping me so much! I just got your flour in the mail last week and I made your pretzels and they were awesome!! Tasted just like the real thing! You are so creative and it benefits all of us that can’t eat gluten. I think what Safeway is doing is good, but there store is also full of products loaded with chemicals and crap. Labeling gluten free and nutrition is a good start, but they also need to start worrying about the bad ingredients in there food like high fructose corn syrup, etc. Also they need to start selling your product!! Lastly I think they take advantage of gluten free buyers for instance I can buy Udi’s bread at Jewel for 4.99 and Safeway wants to charge 7.99. I have also matched up other products and other stores and Safeway charges on most products up to 50% more!

    Reply

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