Grocers are registered dietitians who play a key role in connecting food to health.

Dive Brief:

• Registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) are taking an increasingly active role in grocers’ health and safety efforts, according to the Food Industries Association (FMI). According to the latest report.
• Eighty-one percent of food retailers surveyed employed dietitians, nearly two-thirds (65%) at the corporate level, nearly one-third (31%) at the store or general level and 12% at the regional level, FMI found. Nearly half (48%) said their dietitians have strategic leadership roles.
• “Retailers and product suppliers and manufacturers have more opportunities than ever to leverage the work of registered dietitians in their efforts to make food products stronger health and safety destinations,” FMI said.

Dive Insight:

The retail industry is increasingly connected to health care, as retailers focus on food as much as medicine, academia said.
The Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation defines food and nutrition as a philosophy of helping people through interventions that support health and well-being.

FMI said many of its supermarket members offer one-to-one advice with RDNs, and that since the outbreak, “tele-nutrition” initiatives have “proliferated significantly”, lowering barriers for customers to access nutritional advice.

The food retail setting presents a unique opportunity for RDNs to provide nutrition-focused, solution-oriented guidance to shoppers to promote public health, FMI noted. RDNs can help clients and staff purchase in-person or in-person transit options, provide nutritional counseling, and support a variety of initiatives, from preventive medicine to disease management and treatment.

The trade group said grocers are seeing financial incentives as they more closely tie their food offerings to customers’ health care needs. In FMI’s Food Industry Spikes survey, almost two-thirds of retailers (61%) said using food to manage and prevent health problems was one of the most positive factors driving their sales and profits last year.

“When food and nutrition programs are delivered by trusted experts in the grocery store (in person or online), the idea of ​​shaping the grocery store as a community health and wellness destination comes to life,” FMI said in the report. .

Nearly half (48%) of consumers surveyed said registered dietitians are helping them stay healthy, and 46% and 44% said the same for their food stores and grocery pharmacists, respectively, according to the report.

“One-on-one counseling with an RDN helps the client build a meaningful shopping list, optimize available equipment and resources, manage health conditions, identify barriers, manage biometrics, and ultimately celebrate success,” the trade group said.

Health and safety provisions affect grocery store employees as well as their customers. More than a quarter (27%) of retailers surveyed said they offer nutrition advice to employees, while 39% offer safety training, 46% offer health screenings and 65% have healthy recipes.

FMI says that using virtual platforms to connect with colleagues has helped staff deliver support, such as access to programs and resources available to fellow dietitians.
Customers.

In the year In late 2021, FMI launched an Employee Safety Stakeholder Group, which includes company participants, to help leaders establish safety programs for employees. From companies of different sizes, the group members found that they share the same challenges, the business group said in the report.

According to FMI, “The group discussed best practices in areas such as driving communications, attracting a multigenerational workforce, using internal websites and apps, engaging with community activities, and measuring benefits.”

On the legislative side, FMI supports bipartisan legislation that would increase consultation with RDNs, allowing Medicare coverage to help people manage and treat illnesses. Cancer.

“The legislation expands the list of qualified providers allowed to refer their patients to MNT, to include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialists and psychologists,” FMI said.