Rating Methodology

At Guiding Stars, we prioritize transparency, data integrity, and flexible service to support our clients’ data needs. In the U.S., 60-70% of foods offered in most grocery stores are national brands. With hundreds of thousands of products already evaluated through our rigorous processes, new clients aren’t starting from scratch. For the 30-40% of products that are store brand, we work with clients to integrate their product life cycle with our evaluation process to ensure that all products are captured.

Data Standardization

Serving sizes on packaged and prepared foods or beverages vary significantly.

In order to determine nutrient density between different kinds of foods, we look at a 100-calorie serving of the food. This allows us to fairly compare across foods in all food categories. We then evaluate the nutrients in that portion of the food.

Products evaluated using the Beverages algorithm are first standardized to a 12-ounce serving size, which is the FDA’s Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC) for most beverages including water, sodas, teas, and coffees.

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If you have food labeling needs, Guiding Stars can probably help. Learn how we can help you serve your customers’ needs today.

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Transparency

We use information that is available to consumers on nutrition labels, ingredient lists, and product packaging to evaluate foods. For single ingredient items, like fresh fruit and vegetables, we utilize the USDA’s National Nutrient Database. We have a comprehensive data process to ensure that we’re evaluating exactly what customers are being sold and can see on the product package.

Data Integrity

All data undergoes a thorough review process before going live in our system. Our data collection process is designed to guarantee consistency and accuracy of our nutrition data. Our review process ensures that each food is evaluated with the appropriate algorithm and results of the analysis are reflective of current policy and procedure. Products are activated in the system and available to clients only after the data integrity has been fully verified.

Flexible Data Services

While our nutrition service is the heart of our program, it’s just one way that we use the data captured in our thorough collection and review process to support our clients. Here are a few examples of the many ways nutrient data serves our clients:

Required Allergens

We track the nine major food allergens that are required by the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment and Research (FASTER) Act) to be labeled on packaged foods. Through our integration with client data, we provide the automatic display of these critical product attributes.

Calorie Labeling of Ready-to-Eat Foods

Grocery stores are required to offer calorie labeling on ready-to-eat foods such as soups and sandwiches. We evaluate the recipes or formulas for these prepared foods and provide caloric information for labeling

Reporting on Healthy Sales Goals

Many of our clients have goals focused on the sale of nutritious foods or promotion of healthy lifestyles. Guiding Stars is an excellent metric for identifying what qualifies as a nutritious food. We can additionally integrate with rewards programs to make it easy for you to promote healthy choices among regular shoppers or associates.

Analysis of Healthy Displays

Data Scores Available

Guiding Stars Rating

We select the algorithm to apply to each food product that qualifies for our program and analyze attributes. We provide you with the 0-3 star rating for each product.

Total Score

Each product and recipe is assigned a total score when adding the positive and negative attributes’ information together. We provide the total points for each product on a scale of +12 to -54.