Stop & Shop Is 1st Food Retailer to Join Roundtable on Obesity Solutions
Stop & Shop has become the first grocery retailer to join the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Obesity Solutions, working alongside experts from fields such as public policy, health, medicine and education to develop sustainable system-wide solutions to combat the obesity epidemic.
“More than 40% of American adults and nearly 20% of American children are affected by obesity, according to the CDC. As a grocery retailer serving communities across the Northeast, Stop & Shop has a responsibility to do our part to help solve this national health crisis,” said Gordon Reid, president of Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop. “Providing insights into how retailers can make healthy decisions easier for our communities will be key in developing a holistic solution.”
Reid will serve as the roundtable’s committee advisor from the grocery retail sector.
The Roundtable on Obesity Solutions’ work will focus on the impact of health equity, health communication and access to healthy options in reducing obesity, while determining causation and correlation to larger socioeconomic impacts, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, health and medical access, health inequities, and historic health disparities. Stop & Shop will contribute to strategies for alleviating food insecurity and integrating healthy grocery options into the broader system changes to reduce the prevalence of obesity.
Stop & Shop’s participation in the roundtable is part of the retailer’s larger health and sustainability strategy. For example, in 2020 Stop & Shop revealed a commitment to increase healthy product sales through its work with Partnership for a Healthier America. In January, Stop & Shop’s Nutrition Partners also launched a month-long series of free workshops to kick off the New Year and help those intent on getting healthy. The interactive workshops helped combat common weight-loss challenges such as managing a sweet tooth and tackling late night cravings. Additionally, in April, Stop & Shop donated $60,000 to local Boys & Girls Clubs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Rhode Island to help offer more nutritious options to children and families. The donations were used to help the clubs secure fresh produce and other foods that meet their members’ nutritional needs.
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is the parent company for Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. companies, consisting of Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Co., and Hannaford, as well as e-grocer Peapod; Retail Business Services, a U.S. support services company providing services to the brands; and Peapod Digital Labs, its e-commerce engine. Operating more than 2,000 stores across 23 states, Ahold Delhaize USA is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in the United States.
Washington D.C.-based National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology and medicine. It operates under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.
