FAQs

About the ONQI

What is the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI)?
The ONQI is a food scoring system that makes it easy for consumers to evaluate the nutritional quality of foods, beverages and recipes at-a-glance. Developed by top nutrition experts, the ONQI uses the latest science to provide a single score for any food or recipe.

How is an ONQI score determined?
The ONQI takes 30 different nutrient factors into account when developing a score, making it the most robust food rating system in the market today. Factors included in determining the score for any food, beverage or recipe include: vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fat, antioxidants and other nutrients found in that food, beverage or recipe.

What will an ONQI score look like?
Plans call for expressing an ONQI score on a scale of 1 to 100.

Does the ONQI identify “good” foods and “bad” foods?
Rather than characterize any food as good or bad, the ONQI provides a score that reflects the relative nutritional value both across food categories and within specific food categories, such as breads or frozen desserts. In fact, the ONQI literally lets you compare apples to oranges (and on nutritional value, oranges win). Because the same criteria is applied, all foods can be measured.

What’s the benefit to consumers?
The ONQI empowers the average consumer to choose foods on the basis of their overall nutritional quality with ease and confidence.

When will consumers see the ONQI in action?
It’s expected that the ONQI will be available through thousands of retail grocery stores – on product packaging and point-of-purchase displays – beginning in the second half of 2008. A list of product food scores is also expected to be available online.

How will I know where to find the ONQI?
Starting this Fall, consumers will be able to find out which stores, restaurants and products will be using the ONQI system by checking the ONQI Web site, www.ONQI.com. The information will be updated regularly, so consumers should check the site often.

The ONQI Science

What factors contribute to how a food’s nutrition quality is scored?

The science behind the ONQI is as sophisticated as the tool is simple to use.
The ONQI is based on a novel, patent-pending concept which defines the nutritional quality of foods based on the influence they have on overall dietary goals.
The ONQI answers the questions:
- How does the concentration of a given nutrient in a given food compare to the recommended concentration of that nutrient in the diet overall?
- How, therefore, does consumption of a given food influence the recommended daily intake levels for an array of nutrients?
Factors considered in developing ONQI include: fiber; folate; vitamins A, C, D, E, B12, B6; potassium; calcium; zinc; omega 3 fatty acids; bioflavanoids; carotenoids; magnesium; iron; saturated fat; trans fat; sodium; sugar; cholesterol; fat quality; protein quality; energy density and glycemic load.

What impact does portion size have on the ONQI score?
Since the nutritional quality of a food does not vary with serving size, the ONQI does not offer guidance for portion size. However, because the ONQI factors in properties that influence satiety, foods that score well on the ONQI typically facilitate portion control.

What scientific criteria were used to create the ONQI?
The basic formula is based onthe Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs); Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nutrition Facts Panel; US Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPyramid; the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005; and relevant international standards.

How did you determine which nutrients to include in the index?
Nutrients for inclusion in the ONQI were selected based on their established relevance to public health.

This is great for products that score well on the index, but what about products that score poorly?

The ONQI does not characterize foods as absolutely good or bad, instead, it defines the nutritional quality of a food based on its influence on overall dietary goals. So, for example, a consumer shopping the cracker aisle could quickly determine which cracker product might be the more nutritious option or best meet specific dietary restrictions.
Because the ONQI provides an objective benchmark of a product’s nutritional value, companies wanting to improve the ONQI score for a particular product or menu item may consider reformulation as an option.

Does ONQI factor in the health benefits of organic?
There is no significant scientific agreement that organic is more healthful, so, at this time, the farming practices used to bring food to market are not evaluated as part of the ONQI.

Would the FDA definition of a “healthy food” be more stringent than the ONQI?
The ONQI system includes an evaluation of many more nutrients than the FDA healthy definition. And the ONQI ranks relative nutritional quality as opposed to having distinct cut-offs for allowable nutrients.

Why was the ONQI developed?
The ONQI was developed to provide consumers with a robust, at-a-glance system to better understand and compare the overall nutritional quality of foods within and across categories, wherever they make decisions about food.

The ONQI vs. Other Food Scoring Systems

What differentiates the ONQI from food scoring systems retailers and manufacturers have already instituted in their stores or on their labels?

Currently, there is no broadly-used system, making it almost impossible to compare foods. The ONQI was developed independently and can be used with all foods, beverages and recipes. The ONQI gives consumers the benefit of an at-a-glance nutritional system wherever they make decisions about food.
Many of the systems created and in use today were created by retailers or manufacturers for their own purposes. The ONQI was created by a group of leading nutritional experts for the benefit of consumers, not at the request of a commercial enterprise.

Is the ONQI as robust as other systems on the market?
Actually, the ONQI represents the most robust tool developed to date, utilizing 30 different nutrient factors to determine a food’s score. Additionally, unlike other systems, the ONQI will allow consumers to compare foods wherever they make decisions about food. It is expected that the ONQI will be available to consumers through retail grocery stores, on food packaging, in restaurants and online.

How does the ONQI differ from other labeling systems?

There are many ways in which it differs, the key comparisons being:
- The ONQI includes more nutrient data than other systems, so it gives a much fuller/fairer account of a food’s true nutritional value
- Scores will likely use a 1 to 100-point scale, allowing meaningful comparisons of foods with moderate, but important, nutritional differences.
Other systems group foods into just a few scoring options – leaving roughly 80 percent of supermarket choices lumped into the same tier.

How do you think the new system will impact consumers’ decisions in the grocery aisles?

Consumers make most of their food purchase decisions in the grocery store. The ONQI score gives consumers the ability to quickly assess a food’s overall nutritional quality – with the same insight and consideration a nutrition expert would use. So consumers now have -- at a glance -- a simpler way to make better, healthier food choices.
The simplicity of a single, science-based score helps to eliminate the confusion often associated with product nutrition labels and marketing claims.

It seems every food manufacturer is adding new labeling elements to its packaging? Isn’t this really just a marketing ploy?
The ONQI differentiates itself by being a product of pure science, developed by a panel of leading health and nutrition experts – so commercial considerations did not in any way color its development. The ONQI was simply designed to be the best nutritional measurement system modern science could support and provides one robust score for each food, recipe, etc. The ONQI can be used on any food product, no matter who manufactures or sells that product.

What about products that don’t score well? Aren’t you at risk of alienating some brands?
The ONQI was developed based on sound science, independent of any food company or commodity organization bias. Since the ONQI can be applied to all foods, beverages, recipes and meals, it levels the playing field, and provides consumers with a universal tool to measure any food they wish to purchase. It can also provide a benchmark for product development and reformulation.

About Griffin Hospital

What is Griffin Hospital?

Griffin Hospital is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Griffin Health Services and is the home to of the Center for Disease Control funded Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.
The research efforts of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center are intended to measurably improve the standard of health and quality of life of the communities it serves. The Center develops 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.

About Topco Associates

What is Topco Associates?

Topco Associates is a $7.3 billion, privately held company that provides innovative solutions for its food industry member-owners and customers.
Topco leverages the collective volume of its member companies and customers to help them maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and providing access to business-building opportunities – such as the ONQI.
Together, Topco members represent more than $111 billion in consumer sales annually through thousands of affiliated stores.
Topco brands include: Food Club, Shurfine/Shurfresh, Full Circle, World Classics Trading Company, ValuTime and others.
A full list of Topco members and brands can be found at www.Topco.com.

What is Topco’s role in the launch of ONQI?
Topco is a partner with Griffin Hospital in the release of the ONQI. Topco will work with Griffin Hospital to introduce the ONQI to consumers starting in the second half of 2008 – through product packaging, point of purchase and on the Web.

Was the ONQI commissioned by Topco?
No, the ONQI was developed by an independent group of leading experts in health and nutrition. Topco had no role in the development of the ONQI.