Each product meets nutrition criteria for fat (not more than 30% of calories); saturated Fat (a maximum of 10%); trans fat (none); sugar (maximum 25% of calories); and no artificial flavors, synthetic colors or artificial sweeteners.

While there’s not limit on sodium, “Target keeps tabs on the sodium content of the Archer Farms Simply Balanced products while still maintaining the taste quality for which the Archer Farms brand is known,” read the company’s statement.

Archer Farms was one of the first in a new generation of store brands that really built an identity separate from the store that was selling it. These so-called signature brands have become the preferred vehicle for private label growth, and almost every single supermarket offers something like this.

Expanding the name to cover wholesome ingredients and better nutrition is the next logical step for Archer Farms, which has already undergone a pretty extensive overhaul, and comes as the retailer is embarking on a major push deeper into food sales.

It’s interesting to note that Target took pains to point out the affordability of the Simply Balanced line. According to the retailer, prices range from $1.48 for a box of whole wheat pasta to $5.49 for chicken skewers. Once again, supermarkets are using private label to bring home the idea that eating well doesn’t have to be expensive.

Philanthropic gift cards, which are all about lending a hand, could be just the ticket. The concept is simple yet different: Organizations offer cards that donate to charity in the recipients name, or that come in preset amounts and the recipient chooses which charity receives the money. The largest organization offering these cards, Network for Good, has processed more than $300 million worth of online gift donations since 2001, and the number of donations they’ve put through for this year has doubled over last year, though — with times being tighter — the dollar amounts are smaller.

So cards like this have been around for a while, but this year could be the year they really take off. Tough economic times means everyone’s a bit more inclined to help others. And the cards seem to tap into the same altruistic vein that has consumers demanding organic, natural and sustainable products.

“I believe there is too much focus on gifts of ‘stuff’ and that a donation gift is often the most appreciated and satisfying gift of all,” wrote Erik Marks, founder of TisBest — which offers online and 100% recycled plastic cards — on the company’s website. (more…)

Products came to my attention in several ways. Perhaps I already had seen it under its brand name at the competition or at a food show; or maybe I knew the manufacturer and worked with him to create something unique and different… but often these items were presented to me by someone not that different from me, especially the “now” me — the person who cold-called to tell me about some wonderful new item that my customers simply could not live without!

Who knew that I was going to either make or break this person’s day? I should have had a Harry Truman-esque, “Don’t call my boss, the buck stops here” sign on my desk because that is the power that a buyer wields.

These days, I’m sitting on the other side of the desk. I hock my wares to all sorts of retailers. I still am not 100% comfortable with the cold call and am still having to train myself that realize that the word “No” doesn’t always mean no, but can be a simple dialogue starter (talk about creative ways of psyching myself up!). Other times, you have to simply take the abuse or aggression to make the sale, which is never easy. (more…)

Meet the water footprint, and large companies — from Anheuser-Busch to Wal-Mart — have taken steps to reduce the amount of H2O they use in production processes, transportation and administration.

“People are beginning to realize it’s all related, and that’s why I think water is coming up now, whenever people talk about things like carbon footprints,” said Kai Olson-Sawyer, program manager of H2O Conserve, one of several organizations working to publicize water conservation. I interviewed him for a story we’re working on for the next issue of SN Whole Health, and several links that retailers and other food industry pillars might find useful.

Overall, the news is good. consumptions is actually dropping. According to The Freedonia Group, companies consumed about 13 gallons of water per dollar of GDP in 2007, down from more than 16 gallons in 1997.

The flip side, naturally, is that there are more companies out there, and the growth is focused on geographical areas where water shortages tend to be an issue: the West, Mountain West, Southwest and Southeast. (more…)

I’m reluctant to trust any indication that the clouds are lifting, no matter how hard Bernanke and the stock market try to reassure me. It’s like having a clown show up to a funeral — hey, as long as there are still hiring freezes and closings, I’ll keep my head in the sand, thankyouverymuch.

But I’d be lying down on the job if I didn’t report this, a sign that things might be looking up — for the natural and organic industry. According to a report from RBC Capital Markets, “growth rates in the natural/organic food category appear to have stabilized and might be showing some early signs of re-acceleration.” Re-acceleration would certainly be the right word, since the industry never really went into the red. Any growth from this point would be a revving of the engine.

The report noted that distributors like United Natural Foods, Hain Celestial and SunOpta had been showing promising signs. It also singled out Whole Foods, which has taken a battering lately, particularly in the ledger of public opinion after CEO John Mackey’s health care opus absurdum in the Wall Street Journal. Analyst Edward Aaron wrote that the natural and organic retailer could be back in fighting form in the near future, in part because competitors’ commitment to organics “appears to be wavering in some cases.” Inside sources at Wal-Mart, for one, say that the company isn’t happy with how its organic products have been performing. (more…)

“Now helps support your child’s immunity,” is the exact phrasing, along with a graphic touting that the cereal’s increased fortification with 25% of the daily values of antioxidants and nutrients like Vitamins A, B, C and E.

This is a cereal that still lists sugar as the second ingredient. Even more of an eyebrow-raiser is Rice Krispies’ companion Cocoa Krispies, which sports the same claim on its box. Cocoa Krispies also contains sugar, high fructose corn syrup and trans-fat, according to the ingredients panel. But ignore that. It’s fortified with vitamins to help ward off the child-killer swine flu.

For its part, Kellogg’s claims the fortification decision was made a year ago, well before the current flu scare. Knowing that recipe tinkering can be an involved process, I can’t quibble with that. However I do recall visiting Unilever’s corporate test kitchen right after the low-carb craze engulfed the country some years ago, when I got to taste low-carb versions of their best-selling salad dressings, mayonnaise and the like.

The executives I met with proudly announced that reformulating the products took the company a matter of weeks. I can’t imagine what’s so complicated about boosting vitamin percentages that it took the food scientists at Kellogg’s a year. (more…)

In one example provided by the organization, Target nationally advertised Silk brand soymilk in newspapers with the term organic pictured on the carton’s label. But Silk manufacturer Dean Foods has shifted their products away from organics.

This is not the first time The Cornucopia Institute has targeted retailers. In 2006, the group filed complaints with federal and state regulators against Wal-Mart, also alleging misrepresentation of conventional food as organic with improper signage in their stores.

Surveys show the public is unclear about the difference between natural and organic, as well as related labels used in the wellness industry. That’s bad enough, but think about this: If the general public is unclear, your staff may be too. And where there’s confusion, there are often mistakes. For retailers, it’s especially important to remain vigilant.

Be sure employees understand the difference between organic products and those with natural claims, and emphasize the importance of accurate promotion — not only from the consumer perspective, but from a legal one, too.

USDA-approved organic labels first appeared on store shelves in October 2002. Use of the word organic became regulated, and producers that met certain standards were allowed to display the USDA Organic seal. (more…)

That’s where Al’s Market was located. Inside, Al presided over a whole counterful of candy, gum and trading cards. This was his rush hour, and he was always ready, sitting on an old stool in his ubiquitous white dress shirt and black suspenders, a friendly old guy who ran the tiny storefront with his wife, who would pop out of the back and help preside over the sudden tide of youngsters that would flood the old wooden boards and homemade fixtures, without fail, five days a week at 2:30 pm.

Al’s was small, outdated and old-fashioned (and not pictured here), but he sure knew how to merchandise to his primary customer: No category management best practices or planograms here. Al seemed intuitively to know exactly where to place the candy and snacks: Right at second-grade height. Good ‘n Plenty, Snickers, Chunky and for the truly sugar-deprived, Charleston Chew, a seemingly foot-long bar of chocolate and nougat that was the length of a band practice drumstick. There were also Topps baseball cards and Wacky Packs, too. And bags of chips and grape Nehi and RC Cola in a small reach-in cooler.

Those are fond memories. It’s likely that all of us had a corner store to look forward to after a grueling day of multiplication tables and kickball, right? But things seem to have taken an ominous turn somewhere. A new report out shows that children in Philadelphia who attended public schools and shopped at corner stores before or after school purchased almost 360 calories of foods and beverages per visit. According to the study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Chips, candy and sugar-sweetened beverages were the most frequently purchased items. This is the first study to document both what foods and beverages children purchased in local corner stores on their way to and from school, and the nutritional content of those items.” (more…)

At this year’s Kosherfest a panel of supermarket buyers and specialty distributors bestowed best-in-show honors on Manhattan-based Luck Chen for its heat-and-serve noodle bowls.

What may have been viewed as a major coup in the past, given the product’s ethnic roots, is now par for the course. Especially considering that U.S. buyers have 120,000 kosher products to choose from, four in ten supermarket items are kosher and about 5,000 new foods introduced so far this year, have been, you guessed it, kosher.

The designation has become so mainstream that as I perused the show floor yesterday I had to remind myself of the common thread tying such varied products together. Take for instance Organic Batter Blasters, which is pancake batter in a whip cream can suitable for “lightening fast breakfasts on the go.” Its maker seems to have covered several bases here given the product’s appeal to convenience-seekers, kosher keepers and organic consumers. It remains to be seen how organic shoppers will react to the pressurized can.

Then there is a new microwavable treat from Spain: tunafish pizza in a an ice cream cone-shaped crust touted as “the new way of eating pizza.” Don’t worry about balancing the cone for heating, apparently its box is microwavable too.

The makers of Vinegar Splash Smart Fries air-popped potato sticks were also on hand. The 110-calorie-per-serving treats contain 80% less fat than potato chips, and are free of cholesterol, sugar and trans fat.

Also featured at the show was Sheer Bliss All Natural Gourmet Pomegranate ice cream in a tin can. Its package helps it maintain its integrity better than a carton could, according to its enthusiastic promoter. Publix and Whole Foods are among the retailers who’ve picked up the product.

Assuming shoppers’ food knowledge continues to evolve as it has, it would appear the industry has set itself up for a massive backlash. Right? In reality, it seems people are mostly — as the 87% figure indicates — anxious for some transparency on the issue.

And that’s where the Non GMO Project comes in. Up to this point, labeling has been a scattershot affair. Organic certification is supposed to factor out GMO use, but recent science has shown it’s not doing the job. To fill the gap, hundreds of natural and organic manufacturers have started slapping their own “GMO-Free” labels on their products. But there’s no uniform standard to verify the integrity of these claims.

The Non GMO Project, which counts many of the major players in the natural and organic industry among its members, has established the first-ever voluntary standard to signify products that contain no GM ingredients. (more…)