Hannaford’s, the U.S. subsidiary of Belgian retailer Delhaize, released its ‘Guiding Stars’ program. This is a rating system in which ‘healthy’products are given one star, better choices get two stars and the best options get three stars. Foods lacking any nutritional value get no stars at all. The stars are given on the basis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. “You don’t have to have a nutrition degree to understand it”, a Hannaford spokeswoman told Associated Press.

Of the 27,000 food items per store that were evaluated, only a quarter earned at least one star. Industry experts are positive about the initiative. “There is a certain level of frustration in consumers trying to figure out all the different health claims”, said a spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). Cathy Nonas, a registered dietist with the American Dietetic Association called it “a big step in the right direction.”

Federal statistics show two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese and increasingly retailers are meeting the challenge to help in the fight agains obesity. A survey by the FMI earlier this year found 72 per cent of supermarkets offering some type of nutritional guidance. In 2004 this was 64 per cent.