US supermarket chain Raley’s is changing the layout of its breakfast cereal aisles to give prime placement to cereals with less sugar.
Meanwhile, cereals with 25% or more of the total calories coming from added sugar, based on a standardised one-cup serving of cereal, will be moved to the bottom shelf.
Raley’s said it is committed to promoting transparency to help customers make better decisions for their health.
The California-headquartered company is responding to Nielsen research, which suggests that 22% of US households are restricting sugar intake, while 52% are actively trying to avoid artificial sweeteners.
“We know that the changes in Raley’s stores can positively influence our customers’ choices,” said Keith Knopf, Raley’s CEO.
“Our team has thoughtfully developed a system to evaluate added sugar in cold cereals. We believe between education and product placement, we can help more customers identify and avoid added sugar.”
In partnership with food label data company Label Insight, Raley’s has developed a sugar filter equation to guide the product placement on shelf.
The equation identified which cereals are ‘higher in added sugar’ and labelled with blue shelf tags, and ones which are ‘lower in added sugar’ and labelled with gold shelf tags.
Yvette Waters, nutrition strategist and brand influencer at Raley’s, said: “Studies have shown that added sugars may contribute to a diet that is high in calories but low in essential nutrients. As the resident nutrition expert, I’m passionate about helping our customers find better for you options.”
While Raley’s is starting in the cereal aisle, the company said it is currently analysing calories coming from added sugar in all processed foods, and has plans to expand to additional categories in the future.
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