FLAVOR IS BAIT ON GIANT HEALTH LINE

ROSEANNE HARPER

LANDOVER, Md. -- When they try it, they like it.

That's what Giant Food here is finding with its line of health-oriented prepared foods.

As with all the items in its Eat for Health line of low-fat or low-sodium products, Giant this summer sampled its newest addition, health-oriented coleslaw, without fanfare about the product's good-for-you profile.

"People usually think a product that's promoted as low-fat or low-sodium won't be tasty, but they can be won over with sampling," said Chris Cunningham, the 158-unit chain's executive chef, in a recent interview with SN.

"Our reduced fat potato salad and our regular coleslaw are big sellers this time of year. So we figured this would be a good summer introduction," he said of the coleslaw.

Giant tested the store-made product in two units just before picnic season began and, sparked by strong initial results, rolled it out in recent weeks to 49 of its delis that have prepared food programs. Giant's aim with products such as the coleslaw is to create a good-tasting product that's also healthful, Cunningham said. First the product must be accepted by shoppers, then it's time to say, "Oh, by the way, this meets our criteria for a low-fat or low-sodium product," Cunningham said.

The Eat for Health program was launched two years ago, said Odonna Matthews, vice president of consumer affairs for Giant, who spoke along with Cunningham at the recent annual seminar of the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association in Baltimore.

The program, which now has more than 350 recipes in its repertoire, was consumer-driven, Matthews said.

"We had customers asking our chefs if a particular salad could be modified to have less fat content, for example," she said. "As a result, we analyzed the top 20 products that people were asking about and found that none of them had less than 30% of their calories from fat," she said, referring to the government's guidelines for healthy eating.

"We established criteria for low-fat and low-sodium and we decided to call it Eat for Health because it presents a positive message," Matthews said.

Cunningham worked with nutrition experts in Matthews' department to create recipes developed for products that had "good taste, appearance and affordability," Cunningham said.

"We didn't take existing recipes and modify them. We didn't want any makeovers," said Cunningham. He added that in developing recipes, texture was given heavy consideration as well as taste and appearance.

For example, the dressing for the new reduced-fat coleslaw features no-fat ricotta cheese blended with reduced calorie mayonnaise.

"The ricotta adds viscosity," so the dressing clings well to the vegetables, Cunningham told SN.

"When you take too much oil out of mayonnaise, it just doesn't do the job alone," he said.

In some cases, he said, it has taken a tremendous amount of trial and error to get the flavor of some proposed Eat for Health items up to par.

Curried brown rice with chicken was one of those. "It had plenty of spices. It sounded as if it all went together well, and it looked great but the taste just wasn't there. Not until we added our chutney to it," he said, referring to the chain's chef-developed green tomato chutney, which is now mixed right into the curried brown rice entree.

Each season, he introduces at least one or two new items to the Eat for Health line-up, Cunningham said. He said rotating products at each store is important.

Each store differs, however, as to how often it rotates items, and the mix is tailored to the market area.

Each store with a prepared foods program offers about 20 Eat for Health items daily and they occupy a quarter to a third of the prepared foods case. The best sellers at all locations are linguini with fresh herbs and creamy dill potato salad, both of which have become signature products at Giant, Cunningham said.

The Eat for Health program was considered a success shortly after its launching, and its growth over the past two years has been significant, he said.