The Environmental Working Group launched a ratings program that scored over 80,000 grocery items based on safety of ingredients, nutrition and amount of processing.
The program, called "Food Scores: Rate Your Plate" is a database of over 80,000 grocery items which the group have been working on for the past three years with the goal of aiding shoppers make "healthier, greener and cleaner food choices."
The products are given scores from 1 to 10, with 1 being the best. Nutrition contributes 70 percent of the score, issues on ingredients make 20 percent while the rest of 10 percent is the amount of processing that went into the product.
According to the research, scores of kale are among the highest like other vegetables and fruits. On the other hand, desserts and candies are among the lowest in the pack, according to Renee sharp, director of research at EWG.
In EWG's system, only 18 percent got a green (best) score, between 1 and 3.5. Most foods are in the middle, scoring from 4 to 7, which is coded yellow to orange. The worst foods, which make up 25 percent of the total and score from 8 to 10, are colored red. Meat, stuffing, sugary cereals, and granola bars all take a beating in EWG's system, because of concerns about ingredients and the high sugar content of those foods.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods Market developed a ratings program for different produce they sell like vegetables fruits and even flowers to inform its customers about the environmental impact of the products they intend to buy.
The program, aptly named "Responsibly Grown," will rate the produce of different suppliers who are willing to join the program as "good," "better," or "best" based on several factors like whether they provide conservation areas to foster bees, butterflies or other pollinators, how the farmworkers treat the produce, waste management practices they follow and the amount of pesticide they use in the produce, among others.
Other companies have joined in on the bandwagon as increasing concerns about food safety and quality arise. The app "Fooducate" provides letter grades for different food products based on nutrition, health concerns and level of processing.
Hannafor Brothers, a Maine-based supermarket chain launched a similar system in 2006 to grade the nutritional content of food.
