What To Know About Hy-Vee’s New FoodHealth Score In Iowa And Illinois

Hy-Vee is rolling out a new way to help customers eat healthier.

In a press release, Hy-Vee has announced a new partnership with the FoodHealth Company to bring customers the FoodHealth Score. That's the industry-standard nutrition transparency metric.

Here's how it works: every food item (from a box of cereal to a head of lettuce) will get a FoodHealth Score. It can range from 1-100 based on "nutrient density" and "ingredient quality".

A score of 50 marks the middle, with foods ranked higher than 50 being healthier and foods below 50 being less nutrient-dense.

The score, according to the press release, shows how closely your food choices align with dietary patterns that are proven to lower chronic disease risk.

Hy-Vee customers will also be able to see the FoodHealth Score Insights, which explains why an item receives the score that it does, along with Better-For-You options.

Aaron Wiese, Hy-Vee’s president, said in the release:

With the implementation of the FoodHealth Score in our app, we want to make healthy food options more accessible and transparent. This tool builds upon the dietitian and pharmacy services we already offer and adds to our holistic ‘food is medicine’ approach that we provide to our customers. Now more than ever before, we have the resources available to best serve individuals in their health journey.

Surprise, surprise-we're not doing too well on the health thing. The release says nearly 60% of grocery dollars are spent on items that "are meant to be consumed only on occasion" but 75% of shoppers say food transparency directly influences their trust in a store and brand.