From Health magazine
From superfresh local produce to on-site dietitians, these 10 standout supermarket chains are leading the way to healthier food shopping. And surprise: Many are the traditional, affordable grocers close to your home!
Let’s face it: Your weekly (or daily!) run to the grocery store is the foundation for your good health. So it’s thrilling news that the supermarket industry is on a health kick—these days you’ll likely find organic produce and “natural” packaged foods at almost any store you go to. But which chains are outdoing themselves to deliver the freshest and healthiest foods to you? And which ones provide the best tools to help you make smart choices? We asked six prominent health experts (see “Meet our Judges”) to help us pick the top 10 healthiest grocery stores out of the nation’s largest chains. Here are the true standouts. Happy, healthy shopping! View the winners in this slideshow.
Watch senior food and nutrition editor Frances Largeman-Roth explain how we chose our top 10.
Comments (49)
It’s too bad the survey couldn’t include all chains. Here in the Sacramento Valley, we know that Nugget Markets is our go-to place (and certainly easier to find than Whole Foods) for great produce and other great products. But there are only 9 or so locations! Certainly can’t compare with other ’smaller’ retailers on the list, some of which I’ve never even heard of!
Its definitely Central Market. too bad they did not get included in the survey.
Hy-Vee should definitely have been included – sadly apparently they aren’t big enough. With a dietitian assigned to each store, they are far and away the best as far as health and wellness of their customers.
Here in New York State grocery stores have began to cover up the presence of tobacco products or even stop the sale of tobacco products in their stores because of obvious health reasons. It is too bad that this wasn’t considered in the decision for healthiest grocery stores. Perhaps it should be a criteria for next year as I am certain this trend will become more popular with store owners and managers.
What about The Fresh Market? It is far better than Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Harris Teeter!
I was pleased to see Hannaford on the list. They have really expanded over the last year or so and made a concerted effort to include more natural selections. In addition to the guiding stars, they have their own line of organic foods that are good and reasonably priced. I no longer have to be jealous of all those that have a Whole Foods or Trader Joes in their area!
Surprised to see Hannaford included in this list of top healthy supermarkets. Their tobacco displays and advertising are front and center at their store and very visible when you go through the check-out. Not selling or promoting tobacco products should be one of the criteria for your Healthy Grocery store competition! Selling a product that kills customers when used as intended should disqualify any grocery chain.
I’m surprise Kroger did not make the top 10 list. Kroger has a wide and expanding organics line and because it is the largest supermarket chain, their prices are lower than Whole Foods and others that made the list in my opinion.
Kroger has nowhere near the variety and quality that Whole Foods has.
I was shocked to see Safeway at #2 or even in the top ten. The closest store to me is a large redesigned and expanded Safeway and I will only shop there for a few things I can’t get anywhere else or when I need something and can’t drive the 15 min. to Trader Joe’s or Lunardis (a San Francisco Bay Area Market) in a nearby town. Safeway produce is not good. They over sprinkle the leafy green vegetables to the point that they get very limp and flimsy. They even water the wrapped English cucumbers which also get wet inside and then get very limp. If I want to buy kale, chard, spinach, dandelion greens, any type of head lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, and many other produce items I have to go somewhere else. Whole Foods is great and the best and do not over water their produce but too far away. Lunardis has great produce which is always super fresh, crisp and is displayed side by side organic and non organic. I only by the O brand in Safeway but don’t find very many O products to my liking compared to Trader Joe’s or Lunardis. I know people in So. Calif who will drive 75 miles to a Trader Joe’s rather than shop in town. When it comes to meats and poultry and eggs it is very hard to find cage free or humanly treated/healthy fed products in Safeway; they just are not there. Trader Joe’s has Safeway beat completely in that area. Safeway does not know where to get the best and healtiest yogurt-TJ’s does. Cereal is another unhealthy product in Safeway. In the entire long isle of cereal it is impossible to find just simple old bran flakes. I also cannot find “no butter added” popcorn – Whole Foods and Lunardis has that. I also have a hard time finding just a quart of whole milk or half and half. Safeway thinks everyone wants low fat milk and only in gallons. Once again if I go to Trader Joe’s or Lunardis I can find in a smaller section in each market the organic milk, half and half and cage free eggs – yes, I find what I want and faster and cheaper. Let’s see now, why would I shop at Safeway when the main things I want to eat – greens, fruits, eggs, milk, yogurt, chicken and fish I can find cheaper, fresher, healthier and NOT LIMP (from over watering) at other markets. Yes-shocked that you put Safeway in second place or even in the top ten. It should have been Whole Foods #! and Trader Joe’s #2. Also-not on the healthy theme but on the global warming theme Safeway only uses plastic bags and many time puts only 2 or 3 items in a bag using more bags than necessary. Of course I don’t let them do that to me – I usually bring my own bags but when I forget they try to overuse the plastic. I don’t like anything about Safeway. I wonder if any of the judges actually shops at a Safeway regularly? Maybe it is just the Safeway in Alamo, California but I doubt it. Thanks for letting me express my feelings.
Barbara
SAW THE NEWS ON CHANNEL 4 AT 5 AND 6 PM ABOUT THE SUPERMARKET AND I DID NOT SEE BJ’S WHOLESALE ON THERE. I SHOP AT BJ’S WHOLESALE THANK YOU
I was also very surprised that Hy-Vee Food Stores based in West Des Moines, Iowa was not included. The midwestern chain has a team of dietitians and a designated area in most stores called the Health Market. The produce, lean meats and frozen food departments also contribute to the ample healthy options you have when shopping there.
You should include Wegmans. Organic and non organic. moderatelypriced. Excellent produce.
Thanks for the good, informative article. But what happened to Wegman’s??? I travel all over the country and I must say it’s in my top 3 for sure. Besides being employee owned, Wegman’s was just voted one of the top jobs to have in the country. Check them out!
Wegman’s should be on the list. Their stores no longer sell tobacco products, they have an excellent organic and natural selection, buy produce mostly from local growers and have the “Food You Feel Good About” Wegman’s label. In addition, they provide an excellent shopping experience.
Hi gang,
Wegman’s wasn’t quite big enough to make the list, but our judges did rave about them:
http://living.health.com/2008/10/19/wegmans-the-next-whole-foods/
Wegman’s is my overall favorite grocery. Trader Joes just opened in Williamsburg and I just love it. I also enjoy shopping at Fresh Market
I understand you focused on chains in this article but you still did your readers a disservice by not mentioning natural foods cooperatives. Most urban areas have at least on food coop, open to public shoppers and bursting with fresh foods and local products. Best yet, the stores themselves are locally owned, so money spent in each coop stays in its local community. One coop industry group, the National Coop Grocers Association, lists more than 100 members and 130 stores, with almost $1 billion in annual sales. Skip the chains and seek out locally owned food coops for your healthiest shopping.
I’m surprised Sprouts.com didn’t make it for their up and coming chain in the Southwest. They have at least 40 locations in 4 states and are far better than Safeway, Albertson’s or Tar-jay…….
This survey is disappointing and terribly misleading. Not only is it not scientific, it is not even reasonably objective. According to your statement you considered the following: “To come up with our winning chains, our expert panel reviewed the 35 largest food retailers across the country and selected the absolute healthiest, based on everything from the freshness of produce and taste of prepared foods to the healthiness of packaged goods and availability of supplemental nutritional information.”
Considering the fact that your panel of judges were all nutritionist, they should know better than anyone to judge “healthy” on these simplistic criteria. If you are a responsible publication, you would detail the criteria and fully explain how you derived the results including how you arrived at the “largest supermarket chains.” The explanation given by your representative only leads me to think that there was no set criteria. I also suspect that you never step foot in any of the stores that one — which is why your readers are dismayed by the results. These nutritionist should be ashamed to be associated with this survey. It is truly an embarrassment. When I consider the supermarkets in my area the ShopRite stands out above the rest. They provide their customers with a broad assortment of healthy foods that are nutrient dense. But above all, they do so while keeping prices down and the products affordable. But again this over simplifies the issue doesn’t it, because the notion of a healthy supermarket is an absurd one to begin with. I believe your readers deserve an explanation and the supermarket industry an apology.
In Texas, my #1 store is Central Market, which operates in only 3 Texas cities. Also, I like Sprouts, an Arizona-based company, that opened stores in the Dallas area about two years ago. My neighborhood store is a Safeway store — Tom Thumb — which I shop at mainly for last-minute items. I am as dismayed as others that the Safeway stores rank so highly.
Whole Foods should *not* be listed as “heathiest”. Their baking section products are now laced with “carrageenan,” a mystery ingredient that’s invading every item in grocery stores: deli meats, ice “creams”, toothpastes, salad dressings… you name it. What is it? It’s a form of SEAWEED, otherwise known as Irish Moss, used to retexturize proteins. It’s used when they want things to feel thick and creamy.
However, it has not been sufficiently tested to know if it will re-texturize *human* proteins, too, in those who ingest it. And it can trigger seafood allergies – they don’t even warn about it in the list of allergens. I believe it is making people sick, and they’re not even aware of the cause. So I deplore the loosening of Whole Foods’ standards to include this fast-and-cheap texturizer in their formerly “Whole”-some products.
It’s a shortcut – so your yogurt isn’t really yogurt, your ice cream isn’t really ice cream, etc. They even make fake gelatin in hospitals, now – sugar, water, and seaweed – so the hint of protein in real gelatin isn’t even there. AND they may be triggering reactions in people that they are then treating as a symptom or complication, when it’s just a food reaction. Look for it in everything on your grocer’s shelves — or your own.
Try using wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan
It’s a seaweed product.
wow, i didn’t target had a superstore? i’m assuming
that means it has a grocery store included. i’ll investigate, thanx.
You have to be careful about shopping at some of these “healthy” grocery stores. For one thing, not all selections are healthy. A lot of the selections offered are laced with fat and chemicals- particularly in the bakery and deli. Another thing is not all grocery stores in this list are available nationwide. Only three of these chains are available in my region and more specificly, NONE are availble within a 10 mile radious of where I live.
A third point is that some of these selected grocery stores listed are VERY expensive.
A more helpful article would have been attributes of “healthy” buying habits. Followed by how to shop within a buget. (Especially in this economy.)
Follow my last comment: It’s not WHERE you are shopping….it’s WHAT you are buying.
It was interesting to read the article and then to read comments from others. As a dietitian with a supermarket chain (Ingles Supermarkets) I am also curious about the criteria used. In most of our stores we have a large selection of organic items and sections throughout the store and gluten-free tagging and lists. I work collaboratively with health departments and hospitals to offer in-store health screenings. We annually offer flu shot clinics. We provide on-line nutrition information for our bakery and deli items. All of our deli items are trans-fat free as are most of our bakery items. I conduct supermarket tours to educate on label reading for children and various groups…
Meanwhile, though I have been in several Super Targets in the South East I have never been in one that has either produce or fresh meat, while I guess a few might. I think it is unfair to even put Super Target in this article. They are a retail store with a small grocery section.
I’m a dietitian for a supermarket chain (Ingles Supermarkets) and I read this article with great interest. Like many of the others I was suprised at some of those included as well as excluded from the list, our own of course! We are a medium-sized chain (200 stores) in the South East. We have a large selection (in our larger stores, more than Whole Foods) of organic items. We also offer private label organic items to keep costs down. We have gluten-free tagging and lists of gluten-free items on our website for our customers that have celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Our deli is trans fat free as are most items in our bakery. I work collaboratively with local hospitals and health departments to offer health screenings in our stores. We hold annual flu shot clinics in our stores. This year we have given over 9000 flu shots. I conduct supermarket tours to educate our customers on healthy eating and label reading. Customers can call and write to me with their nutrition related questions….
Meanwhile…Super Target??? They are a retail store with a comparitively small grocery area. Though I have been in several, I have never seen produce or fresh meat! Why would they be on the list?
Woodlands Market in Kentfield, CA. Fresh, sustainable food. Doesn’t advertise. Instead donates money to local community organizations. Been around 20 years and family-owned. Certainly, not a chain. Maybe there should be a ranking on similar criteria for single-store or small chains.
Pathmark? Really? Come on. They have a terrible selection of organics, and since they’ve been bought by A&P, their produce has gone downhill.
I would have expected Stop & Shop/Giant in its place.
Wegmans should be in here…and would like to know why they are not in the top 10..they more than meet the criteria you laid out.. what’s up with that?
I live in Southwest Missouri and just wish we had one of these grocery stores to shop at in our area.
I work and shop at Wegmans. I can’t believe Wegmans is not at the top. We have many customers that prefer us to Whole Foods 10 times over! Not only do we have our food you feel good about slogan, we encourage “eat well live well”. We have tours for 4th grade students to teach them about nutrician. Wegmans has brought in dieticians to help customers with gluten allergies. When Wegmans introduces a new product of their own, much research has gone into the product. As far as produce is concerned, how many stores get fresh deliveries every single day? Wegmans does. I think you need to rethink your list!
I don’t believe any of these stores are where I live, and Louisville is not a small place.
I am glad to finally see nutrition at the forefront of marketing as well as in the mind of the general public. I am also really pleased to see that actual nutrition experts (Registered Dietitians) are on the panel of judges! THANK YOU!
I’m happy to see Whole Foods at the top of the list, it is by far the best grocer I’ve ever been in. Also, is seems that one of there main focus right now is value. With the economy the way it is, it feels good eating all natural and at a good prices.
I live in Austin where Whole Foods is based. We have watched them grow from a small grocer in an old house that was originally named “Safer Way” – nice play on the name. From the start, Whole Foods has taken an approach to be a different type of grocer and employer. They have been at the forefront of the healthy grocery store model for 25 years. They have focused not only on healthy foods, but on foods that are produced in an environmentally safe and sustainable manner.
In Austin, Central Market, a local chain owned by the regional grocery powerhouse, HEB, is a strong competitor to Whole Foods. Central Market is very innovative as the gourmet/health foods arm of HEB.
I have spend a lot of time in the San Francisco area and have really come to appreciate Trader Joe’s and The Good Life Grocery for their fine foods and excellent customer service.
The important issue to be considered from this article is not the ranking, but the level of influence stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Wegman’s have had on the traditional food industry. You are now able to find organic produce in small town grocery stores across the country. The more we introduce organics into our world, the safer and healthier we will all be. The long term impact our our public health will be enormous. The toxic effects of traditional growing methods on farm workers and the environment is significant. The effect of traditional farming and ranching on our land and water is much the same.
I was recently in my home town of Graham, Texas. A town of 8,700 people. The local United Supermarket has an incredible selection of organic produce and packaged products. This is the effect of all of these healthy groceries. Organic foods are no longer the stuff of “health food” stores.
I just checked the article about Wegman’s. The article said the chain didn’t have enough stores to qualify. The nearest Wegman’s to me is about 30 minutes from where I live but I go there every chance I get.
I think Wegman’s should be on the list and at the top. They are an awesome company. They provide fresh, delicious products. They have a health food section. They provide cooking classes, a wonderful website with healthy cooking recipes, and a wonderful magazine. I could go on forever. I grew up in Rochester where Wegman’s originated. I now live in Texas an wish they were here. There is nothing that compares to that store.
What happened to Sprouts?
I know it’s primarily in the southwest (I’m in Arizona), but it’s definitely worthy of a mention. I only shop there and Trader Joe’s – I wouldn’t even consider going to Safeway. I have NO IDEA how that even made the list, let alone #2!
I love Wegman’s which you didn’ list. It’s more convenient to me than the nearest Whole Foods which is down in the city in a recycled former factory that periodically gets flooded out by the Jones Falls, and I’m never totally sure it’s open again. And who is Pathmark? I live in the mid-Atlantic
(Maryland) and I’ve never heard of the outfit. I also like Trader Joes, but their selection is rather limited. I especially like their coffees.
What’s the big deal about selling tobacco? I think thay should consider another criteris for ranking the groccery stores. They, definitely, should not sell sugar, that might kill someone with diabetis,and also is exluded from most af the healthy diets……
Wake up people!!! the store is pretty good when covers most of the country, sell quality products and reasonable prices…..
I agree with many of the comments. I used to live in Ithaca, NY, and LOVED Weg’s – it’s so big, but not too over priced and has tons of items. As for Whole Foods as #1, I am also surprised by that choice. 1) It’s called “whole paycheck” by my friends, because it’s ridiculously over-priced. Also, many of their home made foods are very high in fat, especially baked goods, and are placed right at the check out lanes – thanks for nothin’ Whole Foods – get that stuff out of my face I’m trying to lose weight! So I think this list should be revised – take out Whole Foods and give Wegman’s the cred it deserves!
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I have lived in many areas and shopped stores from your list. I can tell you first hand you missed a big one!
Hy-Vee in the midwest has a dietitian available at nearly every store in the company. My daughter was diagnosed with a milk allergy at an early age and they were a great resource. Stores are willing to carry any product you suggest and they even have a “community club room” that is used as a classroom setting in their store. I know a store in West Des Moines holds the regular area allergy network meeting. This is by far the best grocery store I have ever been in!
They are also very involved in the community and sponsored the Hy-Vee Triathlon for the last two years. Over 1200 amateur participants in 2008 from all over the country!
I’m sure it’s because of the size and number of locations, but here in Denver, CO, my favorite healthy supermarket to frequent is Sunflower. They have undeniably the most inexpensive produce, low prices on all their other goods, and a terrific vitamin/supplement/etc section. They also knock $0.10 off your total at checkout when you bring your own bag…which I know many places do, but I still like when they do it the best.
Good list otherwise. I miss my Trader Joe’s. We need to get one of those in Colorado.
Tried to get your list, to no avail. shop Safeway, Trader Joes and Costco…..
Colorado will never get a Trader Joes until some stupid state laws are changed…..TJ`s makes most of its profit from winw and beer and booze,……. can`t sell any of those in a grocery store anywhere in Colorado…… I`m having a bad enough time here in Oregon…where booze can not be sold in state controlled stores…where the price is set by the state…
I love Wegmans, we travel in a motorhome, and shop at a Wegmans whenever possible, wonderful produce fresh and colorful. Also impressed with the Reno, Nv. Sams Club. Wish we could encourage Wegmans to move to NW.Arkansas where we home base but I guess that can’t happen. Walmart probably won’t allow it. For me there is no choice here, just superWalmart, remember Bentonville, Ark. home of Walmart.