Safeway Bows Natural Foods Line

Safeway Inc. has introduced the Open Nature line of more than 100 all-natural products. The first items in the line, now available exclusively in the Pleasanton, Calif.-based grocer’s meat departments, are fresh beef and pork, fresh chicken, chicken sausages, bacon, and beef hot dogs. Items retail for a suggested $3.99 to $5.99. Further Open Nature products in other categories will roll out during the year, including bread, yogurt, ice cream, salad dressing and frozen selections.

“Open Nature is a great addition to Safeway’s portfolio of health-and-wellness brands, joining O Organics and Eating Right,” noted SVP of consumer brands Joe Ennen. “It’s another demonstration of Safeway’s commitment to providing our customers the best possible experience when they prepare and eat meals for themselves and their families. Open Nature is Safeway’s way of providing shoppers access to simple, flavorful food made from all-natural ingredients that is as close to nature as possible.”

Safeway’s other offerings that meet shoppers’ nutrition and dietary needs at affordable prices are O Organics, an extensive line of USDA certified-organic foods introduced in 2005, and the Eating Right brand of better-for-you items, which debuted in 2007and highlights dietary and health attributes on the front of each package.

Additionally, over the past seven years, the grocer has removed added trans fats from all private label products, converted all of the frying oil used in its stores to a trans fat-free formulation, launched the Eating Right for Kids product line without high-fructose corn syrup, and guaranteed all of its private label milk to be free of growth hormones. During the same time frame, Safeway reduced the sodium level in various canned vegetables and its Signature Café Soup line by 20 percent, and began offering sodium-free flavored beverages.

All of these efforts earned the company the recognition of Health magazine as one of the healthiest supermarkets in the country, according to the results of a 2010 survey.

Safeway operates 1,702 stores in the United States and western Canada.