Target continues its private-label healthy snacking effort

MINNEAPOLIS — Today, more than 75% of Target’s own brand kids’ snacks — from Simply Balanced fruit snacks and granola bars to Market Pantry fruit squeezers — are already free of artificial flavors, preservatives, sweeteners and colors, as well as artificial trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.

As part of its corporate social responsibility commitments, however, the company is working to ensure that everything in its own brands — including mac and cheese, fruit snacks and animal crackers — meets these requirements by the end of 2018. Target reaffirmed its promise to parents in a recent post on its blog, A Bullseye View, promoting its Simply Balanced and Market Pantry own brand snacks as part of its back-to-school season promotions. It’s a move that helps build trust in the Target’s private brands and resonates with parents who are looking for healthier, cleaner food choices for themselves and their children. 

Earlier this year, CVS became the first national retail pharmacy to make this move, confirming that more than 600 of its exclusive snack and grocery options were and remain free from artificial trans fats. It was 18 months ahead of the Food and Drug Administration’s deadline of June 2018 for processed foods to be reformulated without artificial trans fats.