King Kullen Celebrates National Nutrition Month

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Bethpage, NY (PRWEB) March 05, 2014

Since 1980, Americans have recognized March as National Nutrition Month. Year-round, King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc. is dedicated to helping its customers focus their attention on making informed food choices and developing sound eating habits. National Nutrition Month is the appropriate time for reminding King Kullen customers that the company is committed to helping its customers take easy steps that will allow them to proactively improve their family’s overall nutrition.

King Kullen offers its customers the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System, a food scoring system that provides shoppers with comprehensive nutritional information in a simple, easy-to-use, number between one and 100. The higher the NuVal Score, the better the food’s overall nutrition. NuVal Scores help King Kullen customers understand how much nutrition can be found in the foods they choose and make easy choices to “trade up” for better nutrition. NuVal Scores are displayed on the shelf tag in a double-hexagon emblem next to the price. Over 15,000 scored items can be found throughout King Kullen, and additional products are scored every month. While NuVal Scores can be found in the aisles of over 1,600 grocery stores across the nation, King Kullen is proud to be the only food retailer on Long Island offering NuVal to its customers, making the system available in all 39 of its Long Island locations.

The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System was developed by an independent panel of nutrition and medical experts led by Dr. David Katz of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. It is important to note that food and beverage manufacturers and special interest groups do not influence the scores in any way. The NuVal Scores are generated by a sophisticated scientific algorithm that incorporates information from the nutrition fact panel and takes into account more than 30 nutrients and nutrition factors, as well as their effects on health outcomes. The goal of NuVal is to provide shoppers, who may become overwhelmed and confused by the whirlwind of nutrition information available to them, with a simple and reliable tool that can help guide them, much like the GPS in a car, toward more nutritious, higher scoring food choices within a given category.

King Kullen nutritionist Michele Tonner explains, “NuVal is an easily understandable, accessible tool that allows King Kullen shoppers of all ages to make simple choices that can greatly improve their nutritional intake.”

King Kullen promotes the use of NuVal scores by regularly conducting nutrition tours, where its NuVal team educates consumers, school groups and others on how to use NuVal to make better food choices. King Kullen regularly conducts tours for Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, as well as school field trips. Since King Kullen launched the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System in February 2011, its NuVal team has conducted hundreds of store tours and events involving over 5,200 Long Islanders. The majority of these group tours and events are targeted towards school-aged children.

A typical tour begins with an explanation of the science and fundamentals behind the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System and the importance of good nutrition. Afterwards, the tour embarks on a walk-through tour of all of the departments within King Kullen. In each department, King Kullen personnel point out various items and their NuVal scores, and help customers understand how items can easily be traded up for higher scoring products within the same category. King Kullen employees make clear how a simple “trade up” for a higher scoring food item can positively impact overall nutrition.

In addition to store tours, King Kullen’s NuVal team is happy to travel to local schools and organizations for assemblies and health events. NuVal is also regularly presented to college students, hospital groups and health and wellness events all over Long Island. NuVal tours and other NuVal related events in the Long Island area can be scheduled by contacting Nuval(at)KingKullen(dot)com.

About the company:
Headquartered in Bethpage, New York, King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc. is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as America’s first supermarket. Michael J. Cullen opened the doors of King Kullen in 1930. Today, four generations later, King Kullen is still family-owned and operated. It remains a leader in the supermarket industry. From that very first store in 1930, King Kullen today operates 39 supermarkets and four Wild by Nature stores across Long Island. In addition to traditional grocery, King Kullen features a large catering and prepared foods department, freshly-baked breads and sweets, and healthy and organic areas, with pharmacies in many stores as well.

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