STOP & SHOP SPOTLIGHTS 'ZERO' CARB ITEMS

QUINCY, Mass. -- Stop & Shop has begun tagging certain deli, meat and seafood items with a "0-Carb" triangular emblem in its ad circulars.

n the meat department, those items with 0-carb designations include fresh veal shoulder chops, top round London broil, and chicken drumsticks. Boneless tilapia fillets, boneless flounder fillets and bagged shrimp are the 0-carb stars in the seafood section.

"We're alerting our customers that we're alert to their needs," a Stop & Shop spokesman told SN last week.

Meanwhile, SN noted on a visit to Stop & Shop's Nanuet, N.Y., store that the 0-carb emblems are not being used at point-of-sale.

"Right now, it is exclusively in our circulars, but at the moment we're looking at all our options. We know this [consumers' carb-consciousness] is not a craze. It is part of a significant change in the way many consumers are looking at what they buy and what they consume. And we are responding to that," the chain's spokesman said.

Stop & Shop operates 342 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York.