I wish I could take credit for the phrase used in the headline, but it came from a story I spotted in the Philadelphia Inquirer this week about a burgeoning eco-kosher movement that seems to have its roots in the City of Brotherly Love.

Eco-kosher! Now, what the heck does that mean? Kosher food is already popular with non-Jews who like the sanitary and processing standards that govern the ancient law of Kashrut. Food prepared under kosher supervision is said to be cleaner, and therefore, more healthful.

Such beliefs have propelled sales of all kosher foods in the United States to new highs. According to Packaged Facts, sales of certified kosher foods in the supermarket channel topped $200 billion in 2008, up from $150 billion in 2003. Countless numbers of supermarkets serving large Orthodox populations have set up kosher delis, meat departments and bakeries – including Wakefern/ShopRite, Supervalu’s Jewel-Osco banner, Whole Foods (pictured) and Safeway-owned Genuardi’s, to name a few.

Kosher covers the processing and preparation of food, but it does not yet include the fairly new concepts of sustainable agriculture, worker welfare and all the other intangibles that increasingly make up the whole health movement.

“The emphasis now is on what it really means for a particular food to be fit to eat,” Mark Kaplan, a Reform Jew who has helped start community-supported agriculture programs with synagogues, told the Inquirer. MORE…

It only took about two hours walking the exhibition floor at last week’s Natural Products Expo East show in Boston before we began noticing some common threads running among the exhibitors. Here are some of the more interesting ones we’re going to follow up on in our next print issue of SN Whole Health, coming out in late November:

- Licorice. I can’t tell what’s healthful about this candy item, though the products we’re seeing are a far cry from the childhood Twizzlers sticks. These are adult products, with grown-up flavors and ingredients that include (in the case of one company) a distinctly satisfying herbal variety. One exhibtor told me there are cough-supressant proerties associated with licorice.

- Green Tea Powder. This is probably the tea category’s answer to all the powdered drink mixes and powdered functional sports beverages that have hit the market in the past 18 months, something we’ve written about here, as well as the print publication. The tea powder is sort of like Japanese matcha, that strong-grassy flavored powder that’s great hot or cold. Some brands come in single-serving pouches and are flavored additionally with ingredients like lemon or ginger.

- Rice Cake Machines. Talk about an action station. Long a fixture in Asian food stores, these small-footprint devices make a distinct “Pop” sound each time they spit out a crisp, fresh rice cake. One manufacturer told us they are already in talks with retailers like Kroger and Safeway, so could these machines do for Asian enthusiasts what the in-store tortilleria has done for Mexican food lovers?

(Photo credit: Peyri Leigh)

We were on here about a month ago talking up Smart Choices, the new manufacturer-led labeling initiative that awards green checkmarks to foods meeting consensus guidelines for fat, cholesterol, sugar, sodium, and so on. Kellogg’s, Unilever and other large food companies were on board — but so were respected health and nutrition organizations like the American Dietetic Association and the American Diabetes Association. Also, the guidelines follow the government’s own Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and were informed by extensive consumer research.

So what could be wrong? Plenty, according to a growing number of critics, who say the program primarily serves the interests of the manufacturers, not the public. As evidence, they point to some of the dubiously healthy products that have received a Smart Choices check: Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Hellman’s Mayonaise, Fruit Roll-Ups.

The New York Times ran a story on the issue, as did Forbes, under the headline “Smart Choices: Dumb As They Look?” ABC’s Nightline had a recent segment with food writer and chef Mark Bittman, who walked the aisles of a Stop & Shop lamenting the inclusion of products like Froot Loops. The website change.org, meanwhile, has mounted a campaign asking various health organizations to rescind their support for Smart Choices.

In their defense, Smart Choices members point out that products have to meet strict criteria to be included. Indeed, a number of items, like Froot Loops, have been reformulated to meet the healthier standards. There are also a lot of items in the program that everyone can agree deserve to be included. MORE…

There’s been plenty of skepticism surrounding Stevia in the past, but the all-natural, no-calorie sweetener cleared all its regulatory hurdles and has enjoyed a promising early run in the marketplace. And its potential going forward is huge.

How huge? Well, market research firm Mintel calls Stevia the “holy grail” of sweeteners in its latest report — capable of becoming a $2-billion-a-year industry by 2011 (sales currently sit at just under $100 million).

That seems like a pretty generous assessment for a Paraguayan shrub. But if you look at all the factors surrounding the market right now, things start to make more sense.

First and foremost, there’s PureVia and Truvia. These are the two new Stevia sweetener products hitting the market, and they’ve addressed what’s been missing from the original formulation: taste. The secret, apparently, is in enhancing rebaudioside A, the sweetest component of the plant. The major companies behind these products, including PepsiCo, which co-owns PureVia, and Cargill, which sells Reb A, as it’s known in the industry, have poured considerable resources into research and product expansion. So not only will PureVia and Truvia get a considerable mainstream push, but the industry will likely evolve to become even more palatable. MORE…

We’re in the season when consumers see time as even more of a barrier. Fall is beginning of a new round of activities. Groups that suspended meetings over the summer start filling in the calendar with dates. And we are only at the gate for the coming season of holidays!

It’s a good time for the food and nutrition experts in the supermarket to help customers take control. Here are some thoughts to consider:

• It’s a time- and dollar-crunched economy and cooking at home saves money. This theme, and the nutrition control you can put into home-cooked meals, are major messages to convey to consumers. Safe use of a crock pot, grilling indoors (or how to use the broiler) are cooking options that are often overlooked, but they add versatility and variety.

• Comparing the cost of scratch and speed-scratch to the standard restaurant or fast food menu is always good. But factor in the time and gas costs and the nutrition differences. And for small families, buying the amount they need from a salad or prepared food bar at the supermarket may be a bargain compared to restaurant prices.

• Emphasize meal ideas that minimize time and dollars, but meet the “Under 30” minute guideline. Chicken breast halves with an orange juice glaze with instant brown rice, microwaved green beans and a salad go on the table fast.

• Put emphasis on quality, along with the time factor. The return on investment comes from starting with quality ingredients.

• Remember that taste and nutrition are reasons we eat! Organically grown and preservative-free foods are part of that ROI to factor into food decisions.

• Plan for grab-and-go foods. When it comes to good food habits, sitting down to eat meal is an important point. However, there are those times when it’s just not an option. Yet, consumers can keep cost and nutrition under control by planning ahead and crafting their own “takeout.” Wraps, smoothies, soups and travelling salads can be a healthy compromise, and best of all, the variables of time, money and nutrition are controlled as we drive by the drive-thrus!

Under the Obama administration, federal agencies have started taking progressive steps away from their former selves. We’ve written about this happening with the Food and Drug Administration, and it appears the U.S. Department of Agriculture is doing the same.

So what are we talking about here — an overhaul of organic? The end of large-scale farming? Noooo. Like its big brother the FDA, the USDA has come under leadership that’s forward-thinking, yet still willing to extend an olive branch of diplomacy to the food industry. They’re working to make modest-yet-meaningful changes within the agency’s current mandate.

Two examples:

Earlier this week, the USDA announced an initiative called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” aimed at increasing funding and awareness for local food systems. With a price tag of $65 million, the program is ambitious, and it’s addressing an issue of great interest to supermarkets, who have been stepping up their selection of local products but perhaps haven’t quite perfected the process. MORE…

One more story about nutrition labeling programs in supermarkets and we’re going to have to change the name of this blog. It seems we can’t keep up with reporting the new efforts as they roll out from manufacturers, health groups and retailers themselves.

Oh, well. No complaints, mind you. I think it’s great that there’s an ever-growing variety of reference tools available to consumers. The important thing with any of these programs is that it captures the attention of shoppers at the point of sale, whether it’s a shelf strip on on-pack label. It gets them to stop a moment and think about reading labels. And that’s exactly what we need to have happen.

Spartan Stores, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based wholesaler/retailer, is pursuing the shelf tag strategy. The Nutrition Guide program, covering 16,000 products, is being introduced this week in Spartan’s D&W Fresh Markets and Family Fare Supermarkets. There, customers will find color-coded labels that identify six categories whose nutrition facts meet health federal health requirements: MORE…

I often get asked by retailers, “Are we big enough to have a private label program?”

The answer is always the same: A resounding “Yes!”

Recently, I attended a function with dozens of retailers in attendance. At my table there were several small scale operators (less than twenty stores each) who were anxious to start private label programs, but didn’t know how to go about it and were afraid that their volumes would not be significant enough to offer a full fledged, appropriately valued program to their customers.

After some cajoling, deep-breathing exercises and hand holding, I was able to persuade them that, in this case, size was fairly insignificant. We have created a customer who understands that modern day in-house brands are generally the same as, if not better than, national brands. This customer has come to trust what our store’s banner offers. If they trust us, then they’ll tend to trust our private label.

Once we have our own brand to put on the shelf, customers will trade down to save money and walk away satisfied that they aren’t trading down in terms of quality.

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We’ve written plenty about supermarket competitors on these virtual pages in the past, but none are as intriguing as, well, the virtual competitors. We’re talking about the online merchants who operate home-delivery businesses for just about every category. Organic produce, artisan cheese, free-range beef: You name it, it’s in your mailbox.

Now we can add to the mix cereal/snacks. A few companies have emerged as potential threats for those retailers with specialty cereal sets. There’s [me]&goji (gimmicky brackets, huh?); as well as MixMyGranola. Then there’s the specialist of the specialty cereal makers, Custom Choice Cereal, which focuses on gluten-free products. I’m sure I’ve missed a few (feel free to add onto the list in the comments section).

Check these sites out. Customers start with a grain base, and from there add nuts, berries, fruit… even chocolate. What I like is the interactive Nutrition Facts panel that keeps a running tally of the nutritional value of your ingredients.

Sure the finished product is a bit pricey, but have you checked out cereal prices in the stores? They were pretty high over the past year due to huge increases in commodity input costs. But even without that, prices for an ever-shrinking box of cereal have been a big turn-off, at least for this consumer.

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I was reminded just how worried some people are about the pending flu season when I spotted a number of them wearing disposable masks during my subway commute this week. I suspect the number of mask-wearers will increase as we get into October, traditionally the kick-off for supermarket flu vaccine programs, and the start of seasonal flu time.

This year matters are a bit more complicated with the H1N1 swine flu which, ironically, attacks people you’d normally consider less vulnerable to these types of bugs.

We’re still waiting to see whether supermarkets will be able to vaccinate people against H1N1. Leslie Sarasin, president of the Food Marketing Institute, wrote a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August reminding them that supermarkets already have well-established seasonal flu programs in place, and that adapting that infrastructure to handle swine flu vaccines would be no problem.

“Vaccinations by pharmacists are now legal in 49 states and the supermarket industry has a major presence in all 49 of these states,” wrote Sarasin. “Our members are located in urban, suburban and rural areas across America and operate more than 14,000 pharmacies. We are an industry that touches every geographic area and segment of the population.”

Whether the CDC will use supermarkets for swine flu immunizations remains to be seen. Right now, the government is rushing just to get an effective vaccine to market by mid-October.

Already five populations have been identified as having priority access to the vaccine, including school-age children and pregnant women — a total of 159 million individuals.

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