A tag post script

Concerning why the rollout of a nutritional tag program to some United Supermarkets and not others (see this morning's post), the answer from spokesman Eddie Owens is simple.
"We had to start somewhere," he said.
The chain started with its "specialty" stores, which include the Market Street brand and some stores that are a hybrid of Market Street offerings and regular United stores.
That's why the Amarillo Market Street and the United at Southwest 45th Avenue and Bell Street got the nutrition tagging first.
"Now that the program is fully automated -- we originally had to do all the labeling by hand, and you can imagine what a nightmare that was -- we intend to roll it out, chainwide, as quickly as possible," Owens said.
"But that will take a considerable amount of time, still, due to the changeout of pricetags."

You are what you eat

And to help you know more about that, United Supermarkets has peppered aisles at selected other stores with nutritional tags.

The tags highlight foods that
meet gluten-free diets;

• are heart-healthy or for diabetes management;
• are lean or lowfat;
• are sugar-free or have reduced sugar content; or,
• meet organic standards.

Gluten Free products are marked with a blue tag. Heart-healthy/diabetes management products get a pink and purple label. You'll find an orange label on the lean and lowfat items.

United goes with pink again when it tags the sugar-free and reduced sugar foods. And it goes green with the label on the organics.

If it sounds like you'll need a map legend to shop, don't worry. United gives you one.

Customers who want more info about the tag program can interact with United dietitians online by submitting questions that will be featured on the chain's Health and Wellness web page or answered individually by e-mail. Names won't be posted with the questions. They'll be anonymous.

The one question not answered is why the program is being rolled out to the Amarillo Market Street United and a United Supermarket on Southwest 45th at Bell Street but not -- from what I can tell on the news release -- to other United stores here yet.

I'll see what I can find out.