The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) and bitewell, the FoodHealth Company, today announced their collaboration to bring bitewell’s FoodHealth Score, an innovative nutrition scoring system, to Kroger customers nationwide. The scoring system seeks to give customers a fast, reliable way to evaluate the healthfulness of their food.
bitewell’s FoodHealth Score rates foods from 1 to 100 based on multiple factors including nutrient density and ingredient quality. With the system, Kroger customers can view the FoodHealth Score of an item while shopping online or within the Kroger app.
Customers are also able to access the FoodHealth Score in-store by scanning the product’s UPC codes. The easy-to-read score helps customers instantly identify foods that align with their health goals, making shopping for their families easier. Customers with a digital account can view their past purchases’ FoodHealth Score and analysis of their purchasing trends through their “Nutrition Insights” online.
“Kroger and bitewell are united in our desire to improve the nutrition security of millions of people,” said Jim Kirby, chief commercial officer at Kroger Health “This initiative uses modern technology to give customers the knowledge they need to make better decisions every day. With this expanded service, Kroger and bitewell are setting a new standard for nutrition transparency, while empowering customers to gradually change the way they eat.”
As part of its commitment to advancing Food as Medicine, Kroger introduced OptUP in 2017, a color-coded program to help customers evaluate the nutritional value of their food purchases and discover Better for You products.
The bitewell FoodHealth Score is part of the OptUP program along with an enhanced scoring algorithm. The advanced science of bitewell’s FoodHealth Score incorporates a broader range of nutritional attributes, enhancing the OptUP program.
“We are excited to collaborate with bitewell to make advancements that power the OptUP Nutrition Program,” said Laura Brown, head of nutrition, Kroger. “This improved resource will help us deliver better access and information to our customers, hopefully leading to improved health outcomes.”
“People need help navigating nutrition while they shop for food,” says Samantha Citro-Alexander, CEO of bitewell. “We’ve all been there – standing in front of an aisle wondering ‘which of these is actually healthy for me?’.” The FoodHealth Score makes it fast and easy to answer that question.”
About Kroger Health
Kroger Health, the healthcare division of The Kroger Co., is one of America’s leading retail healthcare organizations, serving more than 17 million patients annually. Kroger Family of Pharmacies operate more than 2,200 pharmacies across 35 states and The Little Clinic offers telehealth services in nine states and operates more than 220 in-person clinics in eight states. Our team of 24,000 healthcare practitioners, including pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered dietitians and technicians believe in practicing at the top of our licenses, enabling “food as medicine” to help prevent disease before it starts, and helping people live healthier lives.
About bitewell
bitewell is a nutrition technology company on a mission to improve the world’s health through food. Their proprietary FoodHealth Score is a nutrition scoring system that measures food’s impact on your health.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the Human Spirit™. We are, across our family of companies nearly 420,000 associates who serve over 11 million customers daily through a seamless digital shopping experience and retail food stores under a variety of banner names, serving America through food inspiration and uplift, and creating #ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities.
