Price Chopper Enters into Landmark Agreement with Nuval to Employ Comprehensive Nutritional Scoring System

SCHENECTADY, NY (01/21/2009)(readMedia)-- Price Chopper, a Golub Corporation company, announced today its plans to implement NuVal^TM, the most independent, comprehensive and easy-to-use scientific food scoring system in the world, on virtually every product in every one of its 117 stores in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Backed by complex nutritional science, but designed to be easy to understand and use, the NuVal System meets the needs of frustrated consumers looking for a better way to make more informed food choices and improve the nutritional value of their diets. NuVal Scores tell customers the overall nutritional value of food in a single number from 1 to 100. The higher the NuVal Score, the higher the nutrition. With the NuVal System, customers will be able to see and consider the numerical NuVal score on every one of their options before making a choice instead of having to scour the nutritional labels of every package to find the one they think is the most nutritious.

"We have always been committed to making sure that our customers and associates have relevant nutritional information to help them make healthy choices. Over the years, we have shown our commitment with informational outreach via our growing "Healthy U" initiative, offering informational classes and tours, racks of healthy recipes and brochures in-store, our "Healthy U Connection" (via phone and e-mail) that connects consumers with questions to a professional nutritionist, website content and links, and educational/informational partnerships like the one with EatingWell magazine that we announced back in November. But, NuVal takes this to a whole new level. Our customers will be able to understand the choices that they're making through the scoring system simply by reading the NuVal score on each shelf tag. We're going into this full force with a commitment to get every product in every store scored," said Neil Golub, Price Chopper's President and CEO.

Price Chopper's commitment includes placing NuVal signage throughout the store and on shelf tags right at the point of purchase so it is easy for customers to incorporate the consideration of NuVal scores into their regular shopping routine. In addition, Price Chopper's team of registered dieticians will be offering store tours and informational visits to schools and public spaces throughout the community to show consumers how easy it is to incorporate NuVal into their family's diet choices.

The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System was developed in response to America's troubling health trends - rapidly rising rates of obesity and diabetes in both the adult and child populations - as a potential vehicle to improve public health.

Dr. David Katz, a nationally recognized authority on nutrition, weight control, and the prevention of chronic disease, established an independent team of nutrition and medical experts from leading universities and health organizations to spearhead the project. This team - which was funded by Griffin Hospital, a non-profit community hospital and teaching affiliate of the Yale University School of Medicine located in Derby, CT, and home to the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center - worked for two years to develop the ONQI algorithm that powers the NuVal System.

The heart of the NuVal system is ease-of-use. Once analyzed, every product is given a score from one to 100. The higher the score, the more nutritious the product is.

"We are thrilled that Price Chopper has taken this giant step with us and has agreed to implement NuVal in every one of its stores. This will educate more consumers and help us to reach our ultimate goal of seeing NuVal as the nutritional standard," said Nancy McDermott, NuVal president.

"The real key to using NuVal is that consumers begin to understand the choices that they are making," said Ellie Wilson, Price Chopper's senior nutritionist. "Once they understand that there are choices they can make within a product category and begin to consider why one product might have a higher NuVal score than another, they are well on their way to making good choices for themselves and their families."

"This is a very well researched tool that will provide much needed assistance to shoppers as they try to make the best food selections for themselves and their families. The one to 100 number rating system is easy to understand and provides a quick way to evaluate the 'nutritional value' of each food item. I applaud the efforts of Price Chopper for introducing this novel new system into our community," said Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer, Associate Professor of Medicine at Albany Medical College.

An additional benefit of the program is that manufacturers can now see where their products stack up within a category. "It's a great incentive to a manufacturer to begin producing a healthier product when they see those scores on a shelf," said Golub. "Another measure of NuVal's success will be realized as food producers go back to reformulate their products to be healthier."

Following the national launch of NuVal in Price Chopper stores, the company is looking to other retailers throughout the country to adopt the system in order to further its unprecedented accessibility to reliable nutritional information for all consumers.

"We are proud to be the first company to implement NuVal on every product in every store but we strongly hope for the consumer's sake that others follow our lead, including all of our competitors in our six states of operation," said Golub. "NuVal is the most comprehensive and reliable nutritional scoring system on the landscape and consumers deserve to have the guidance of its easy-to-understand scores."

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About Price Chopper

Based in Schenectady, NY, the Golub Corporation owns and operates more than 100 Price Chopper grocery stores in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The family-owned company prides itself on longstanding traditions of innovative food merchandising, leadership in community service, and cooperative associate relations. Golub's approximately 25,000 associates collectively own 51% of the company's privately held stock.

About NuVal

Located in Braintree, MA, NuVal licenses its proprietary food scoring system, which is based on ONQI (Overall Nutrition Quality Index) science to food retailers across the country. NuVal is a joint venture formed in 2008 by Topco Associates, LLC, and Griffin Hospital of Derby, Conn., a non-profit community hospital and home to the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.

About Griffin Hospital

Griffin Hospital, a not-for-profit subsidiary of Griffin Health Services Corporation, is the home of the Center for Disease Control-funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. The research efforts of the Center are intended to measurably improve the standard of health and quality of life of the communities it serves and to develop innovative approaches to health promotion and disease prevention that will directly benefit the public's health. Griffin Hospital has received national acclaim for creating a facility and approach to patient care that provides an exceptional patient experience and superior clinical outcomes.