Big Y Rolls Out NuVal

Less than a week after Food City said it would adopt the NuVal food scoring system, Big Y is holding a ceremony Oct. 1 at noon in its Ansonia, Conn., store to mark the official introduction of the program across the grocery chain.

In addition to Big Y representatives such as Ansonia Big Y store director Tracy Lambertson, the ceremony will feature Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, who in 2006 led a team of nutrition scientists in the development of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI), which was later renamed NuVal; Griffin Hospital president Patrick Charmel, other Griffin officials, Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce president Bill Purcell and a representative of Ansonia Mayor Jim DellaVolpe.

The agenda includes a tour of some food aisles conducted by Katz and Big Y registered dietitian Carrie Taylor, who runs the company’s “Living Well Eating Smart” program, during which they will compare food item scores.

Big Y’s introduction of NuVal brings the scoring system home for the first time to Griffin employees and residents of the communities the Derby, Conn.-based hospital serves at the Springfield, Mass.-based grocer’s supermarkets in Ansonia, Naugatuck, Monroe and Stratford, Conn.

NuVal, which rates all foods and beverages on a scale of one to 100, with a high score indicating superior nutrition, will receive a Platinum 2010 Connecticut Quality Improvement Award (CQIA) Innovation Prize -- the highest award given by the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership Inc. -- at the CQIA conference on Oct. 29 in Westbrook, Conn.