GIANT'S NATURE'S CHOICE TARGETS SPECIALTY RIVALS

STEPHEN DOWDELL

LANDOVER, Md. -- Giant Food here is grouping together about 500 dry grocery and frozen food items under a new program known as Nature's Choice, in a possible jab at specialty grocer and market interloper Fresh Fields.

The 160-store Giant has set aside special sections of shelving in each of its aisles. In each section are products that meet the Nature's Choice program's criteria of being natural, organic or vegetarian.

The chain created the section, designated within each aisle by special signage, "for our customers who prefer these alternatives," it said in a statement.

The categories with special sections include cereal, crackers, cookies, soup, juice, vegetables, soda and water, chips, frozen desserts and frozen entrees.

The program is part of a wider concentration on nutritional guidance for its customers, represented in several facets of Giant Food's merchandising strategy, in new stores as well as existing units.

That concentration includes "Eat For Health," a guide listing more than 5,000 branded and private-label foods that are low or reduced in fat or cholesterol, sodium and calories, and/or a good source of fiber. Those products are identified by special shelf labels. "Healthy Start, Food to Grow On," is a nutrition campaign geared to children.

The newest program is being promoted with in-store brochures, which explain the Nature's Choice concept and its criteria for product selection.

Its requirements are: no artificial flavors; no added colors, except vegetable colors; no synthetic sweeteners and few added sugars (only honey, maple syrup, turbinado, brown rice syrup, evaporated sugar cane juice and fruit juice concentrates; no hydrogenated oil or cottonseed,

coconut, palm or palm kernal oils; no bleached or bromated flours; no synthetic preservatives or irradiation; organic ingredients. Products must meet the standards set by state law (California, Oregon, Washington, etc.) or whatever federal law supersedes it.

The brochure explains that not all the foods included are organic, vegetarian and natural, "but nearly all fall into at least one of these categories." The chain emphasized that "natural" does not necessarily mean more healthful than other foods.

"They may not be low in fat, sodium or even sugars," it noted in a disclaimer.

Giant Food officials were not available for comment on the new program. Market sources, however, said that while the chain has for years included nutritional education as part of its merchandising strategy, this latest program could also be a response to incursions made in Giant's marketing area, by Fresh Fields, a 14-store supermarket chain specializing in natural and healthful foods, based in Rockville, Md..

Besides Fresh Fields, Giant will soon find itself competing with another natural foods chain. The 34-unit Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas, plans to open several stores in Giant's territory starting next year.