Hy-Vee issues statement regarding new Clean Honest Ingredients initiative

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Hy-Vee on Saturday published a statement to consumers following criticism of its a new private label branding initiative, Clean Honest Ingredients, from the Iowa Corn Growers Association for potentially mischaracterizing its corn syrup sweeteners.

"In recent days, we have been criticized for our newly announced Clean Honest Ingredients labeling. Like many other retailers — Target, Kroger, Walmart, H-E-B and Whole Foods — who have already launched 'clean' product lines, we also wanted to answer the call of our customers for simple, easy-to-read labels with fewer ingredients," noted Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president Hy-Vee.

"More and more customers are demanding simple, easier to read labels, fewer ingredients and greater transparency when it comes to product ingredient labeling," Hy-Vee stated in direct response to the initial criticism. "As a retailer with millions of customers with diverse needs, we feel it is our responsibility to provide varying choices so that they can make their own personal decisions when it comes to food purchase and consumption."

The new own brand labeling initiative, which will be featured on as many as 1,000 products, was launched earlier in August.

"It’s unfortunate that in our promotion of this new label, we characterized some ingredients in a way we never intended," Edeker wrote. "We take responsibility for how naturally-derived ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup, were positioned in our press release and on our website and product labels. It was never our intention to portray these naturally-derived ingredients as dishonest or unnatural."

Hy-Vee is reviewing the program and revising it to better characterize naturally-derived ingredients, Edeker said. "We are committed to providing you clean and transparent products," he shared in his letter to consumers. "We believe our Clean Honest label does just that and allows Hy-Vee to compete with many retailers throughout the nation that have already launched these labels. Thank you again for your continued support."