Hy-Vee kicks off Clean Honest Ingredients effort

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — As part of its Clean Honest Ingredients label initiative, Hy-Vee plans to eliminate more than 200 artificial ingredients or synthetic chemicals in 1,000 Hy-Vee label products by July 2018.

“Hy-Vee takes great care to provide our customers with authenticity and transparency when it comes to the products in our stores,” said Jeremy Gosch, Hy-Vee’s EVP strategy and chief merchandising officer. “As the demand increases for food products that contain natural, familiar and simple ingredients, we are doing our best to meet those expectations within our Hy-Vee label offerings.”

None of the Hy-Vee brand packaging is changing except for the addition of the Clean Honest Ingredients logo. The supermarket chain has already begun to roll out private-label food items bearing the logo, including ketchup, almond butter, tortilla chips and bottled tea. Hy-Vee is the latest retailer to jump on board this clean ingredients initiative, which seeks to remove high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors and colors and partially hydrogenated oils from its own brand food products. CVS and Target have rolled out similar initiatives this year. Hy-Vee also placed high on the Greenpeace 2017 Tuna Shopping Guide.

Click here for a list of all 1,000 items scheduled to bear the Clean Honest Ingredients logo by July 2018