Wegmans Creates Consumer Whole Grain Wellness Key
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Wegmans Food Markets here has created its own whole-grain wellness key, in an effort to help consumers easily figure out daily equivalents of recommended dietary whole grain foods guidelines.
The system makes it simple for customers to understand what foods and portion size would give them the maximum benefits.
Jane Andrews, Wegmans' corporate nutrition manager, said while some industry groups have translated the dietary guidelines to mean 48 grams of actual (dry) whole grains each day, "a small slice of 100 percent whole wheat bread weighs an ounce and contains about 16 grams of whole grains, so three slices would meet the daily guideline. But few products tell you the grams of whole grain. And in any case, do people really want to do the math each day to add up to 48 grams?"
Wegmans' new whole grain wellness key tells consumers how particular foods count toward meeting a goal of 3 ounces of whole grains a day.
"The whole grain wellness key is a wheat-like icon that shows customers how a serving of the food works toward their daily goal of three," said Andrews. "This wellness key appears on packages, on shelf talkers, and on other signs in the store. So if you made a sandwich with two slices of Wegmans Premium Whole Grain Bread, and saw that it has a '1½' next to the wellness key on the front of the package, you'd know that you'd reached your daily whole grain goal with that one sandwich," she added.
Wegmans Food Markets operates 71 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.
The system makes it simple for customers to understand what foods and portion size would give them the maximum benefits.
Jane Andrews, Wegmans' corporate nutrition manager, said while some industry groups have translated the dietary guidelines to mean 48 grams of actual (dry) whole grains each day, "a small slice of 100 percent whole wheat bread weighs an ounce and contains about 16 grams of whole grains, so three slices would meet the daily guideline. But few products tell you the grams of whole grain. And in any case, do people really want to do the math each day to add up to 48 grams?"
Wegmans' new whole grain wellness key tells consumers how particular foods count toward meeting a goal of 3 ounces of whole grains a day.
"The whole grain wellness key is a wheat-like icon that shows customers how a serving of the food works toward their daily goal of three," said Andrews. "This wellness key appears on packages, on shelf talkers, and on other signs in the store. So if you made a sandwich with two slices of Wegmans Premium Whole Grain Bread, and saw that it has a '1½' next to the wellness key on the front of the package, you'd know that you'd reached your daily whole grain goal with that one sandwich," she added.
Wegmans Food Markets operates 71 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.