What Is Hy-Vee's FoodHealth Score And How Does It Work?

Hy-Vee shoppers in Sioux Falls and across the country have just been given a gentle nudge toward better health. The grocery chain has rolled out a new program designed to help customers make smarter food choices, which is great news, especially for those of us who have never met a junk food we didn’t instantly want to propose to.

The new FoodHealth Score program is a collaboration between Hy-Vee and the FoodHealth Company, and it aims to bring a little nutritional clarity to your shopping cart. Think of it as a referee for your grocery run, quietly reminding you that maybe, just maybe, your cart shouldn't be filled with just things like Doritos, Double-Stuff Oreos, a take-and-bake pizza, and a 12-pack of Orange Crush soda.

According to Dakota News Now, the program assigns every product in the store a FoodHealth Score ranging from 1 to 100. A score of 50 is the midpoint of the scale. Foods scoring above 50 tend to be healthier choices, while items below 50 are more of the “fun but questionable” variety.

Get our free mobile app

Each score is based on nutritional value and ingredient quality, and here’s the really helpful part: shoppers can also see explanations for why items score the way they do. So instead of guessing whether something is secretly healthy or just pretending to be, you’ll actually know what’s going on behind the label.

The FoodHealth Score program is fully integrated into the Hy-Vee app, meaning you can access it right from your phone while shopping.

If you choose to use it, it can help guide you toward better decisions, without physically slapping those jumbo blueberry muffins out of your hands.

In short, Hy-Vee isn’t banning junk food; they’re just giving you the information to decide whether that snack is fuel… or just really, really tasty fun.

You can learn all about Hy-Vee's FoodHealth Score program here.