Grocery Store Chain Research Articles

Barriers to Enrollment in a Pharmacist-Led Fitness, Nutrition, and Weight Management Coaching Program

Objectives: To investigate barriers to utilization of a pharmacist-led fitness, nutrition, and weight management coaching program, as well as describe patient reported expectations and explore the patient characteristics potentially associated with a higher willingness to participate in the future. Design: Cross-sectional, descriptive study using an anonymous, electronic survey. Setting: A large, national, grocery store chain. Participants: Employee benefit plan members, eligible for a pharmacist-led fitness, nutrition, and weight management (FNWM) coaching program, who were not currently or previously enrolled in the program, and met coaching program qualifications. Intervention: Peer-reviewed, electronic survey administered and collected using an Internet survey analysis software. Main Outcome Measures: Barriers to enrollment in the pharmacist-led fitness, nutrition, and weight management coaching program. Results: Of 1,130 emailed employees, 352 responded and 133 met study inclusion criteria and completed the whole survey. Of those who fit inclusion criteria, the majority (53.4%) of the respondents were aware of the coaching program (75.2%) and expressed interest in future participation (53.4%). “I am already taking steps to improve my health” and “I do not have time to participate in the program” were the highest rated barriers for both those interested and not interested in participating in the coaching program. The majority of participants believed pharmacists were qualified to provide the coaching service (78.2%) and preferred one-on-one coaching with the pharmacist (67.7%). Key topics respondents wanted the pharmacist to cover included general diet and nutrition, weight management strategies, and vitamins and supplements. Conclusion: The two major barriers reported in the study were lack of time and the use of other health improvement methods; however, a large number of respondents indicated future interest in participating. Future programs may be able to increase utilization by focusing on programming that is more accommodating to participants’ schedules and integrating along with other weight loss programs. This study also provides some support regarding patient acceptance of pharmacists in innovative roles, such as fitness, nutrition, weight management coaching. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties Type: Original Research

Herbal Detox Tea: A Potential Cause of Acute Liver Failure

We present a case of acute fulminant liver failure from a liver detoxification tea containing multiple herbal ingredients marketed to be hepato-protective.The patient was a 60 year-old Caucasian female who presented with a new onset of generalized weakness, lethargy, scleral icterus, and jaundice that worsened over two weeks. She reported drinking herbal tea three times a day for 14 days prior to symptom development to improve her health. The herbal compound used was a detoxification tea purchased at a chain grocery store. On admission, physical exam showed jaundice and scleral icterus. Patient became progressively lethargic and developed asterixis. Her lethargy progressed to somnolence requiring intubation. She was placed on the transplant list on day 15 and passed away on day 17. Initial labs included: aspartate aminotransferase (AST) 450 U/L, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 583 U/L, alkaline phosphatase 202 U/L, and bilirubin 21.8 mg/dl. ALT, AST, and ALP trended down during admission but bilirubin continued to rise to 43.49 mg/dl. Extensive lab work ordered to determine the etiology of her liver failure was negative. An ultrasound guided liver biopsy showed submassive necrosis with portal, periportal and panlobular inflammation, hepatocyte ballooning, mallory hyaline and single cell apoptosis (Figure 1). Her liver histology was consistent with previously published reports of medication induced liver injury. Her liver necrosis can most likely be attributed to her ingestion of this herbal supplement.The literature search on the ingredients in Pubmed shows six ingredients as having hepatotoxic effects and remaining ingredients as having very sparse hepatoprotective data. This case adds to the growing concern over the safety of certain herbal products and serves to heighten healthcare provider awareness of herbal tea hepatotoxicity.Figure 1

Collaboration and Commitment in a Regional Supermarket Supply Chain

This article presents findings from a longitudinal case study of efforts by a 100-store regional grocery store chain to localize its supply of fresh produce. The study was conducted to better understand the development of collaborative supply chains between farmers and grocery stores, and the broader potential that grocery store chains might play in localizing food systems. Data consists of three years of the chain's local produce purchases via direct-store-delivery from farms to stores; a survey of store managers and farmer-vendors; and interviews with farmers and grocery store and chain-level management. Analysis is structured by a conceptual framework that links collaboration to trust, which undergirds mutual commitment and mutual dependency between supply chain members, and which is dependent upon effective communication and positive prior market exchanges. The study finds that organizational structures constraining single-store autonomy in purchasing and pricing, coupled with supply variability from farms, limits trust-building and the establishment of mutual commitments and dependencies. These constraints, however, do not completely exclude direct-store-delivery as a strategy for food system localization and grower market diversification. Practitioners can support the building of collaborative supply chains through capacity-building and shepherding of early market exchanges between growers and stores, and supporting individual growers or groups of growers to become preferred vendors for regional grocery chains. See the press release for this article.

Pediatric asthma medication therapy management through community pharmacy and primary care collaboration

ObjectivesTo design and implement a collaborative medication therapy management (MTM) program targeting pediatric patients with high-risk asthma in a community pharmacy. SettingUnderserved inner city of Cincinnati, OH. Practice descriptionA large national grocery store chain pharmacy and an academic hospital developed a partnership aimed at improving asthma care for shared patients. An interdisciplinary project team was formed, including 2 clinical pharmacists, 1 pharmacy district clinical coordinator, 1 pharmacy division clinical coordinator, 1 associate professor at a college of pharmacy, 1 pharmacy resident, and 3 pediatric physicians. This pilot project involved 2 Kroger Pharmacy sites and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's (CCHMC) 3 pediatric primary care centers. Practice innovationKroger and CCHMC staff identified shared high-risk asthma patients (those cared for at the included primary care centers who used Kroger for their medication fills) with the use of information from validated symptom assessments (Asthma Control Test), refill history, and recent health care utilization. Community pharmacists recruited jointly identified patients and provided a targeted MTM intervention. Education focused on asthma diagnosis, types of asthma medications, appropriate medication administration, and environmental triggers. Pharmacists suggested medication changes to prescribers via facsimile. Pharmacists followed up with patients in 30 days to assess asthma control, provide additional education, and propose further recommendations. EvaluationOutcomes evaluated included the average number of recommendations made to patients and prescribers and acceptance rates for each of those measures. ResultsSix patients completed the project. Pharmacists provided an average of 3.7 recommendations to each patient and 1.5 to prescribers for each patient; 77.3% and 100% recommendations were accepted, respectively. ConclusionThis pilot project describes the design and implementation of a pharmacist-physician collaborative program for high-risk pediatric asthma patients. The greatest outcome of this project was the formation of a collaborative team between pharmacists and physicians that continues to work together on additional family-centered initiatives.

The structure of internal job mobility and organizational wage inequality

The movement of people among jobs within an organization reflects a process of relational position-taking—a contest among individuals for valued resources. The structure of this mobility offers clues regarding the relational dynamics associated with position-taking and how these processes might vary across low and high inequality organizations. We explore these issues using data on intra-organizational mobility networks from 7347 workers in 428 positions in 11 distribution centers from a national grocery store chain. Exponential random graph models are used to identify the local network features that characterize each organization’s pattern of job mobility. This approach is then supplemented with meta-regression that examines the extent to which those network features are associated with organizational inequality (the wage gap between supervisors and non-supervisors). Organizational inequality is unrelated to the presence of purely structural mobility features (density, reciprocity, or transitivity), but instead is characterized by the confluence of mobility structure and positional hierarchy. The findings demonstrate that workers have fewer mobility pathways into high wage jobs in high inequality organizations than in low inequality organizations.

Celebrity endorsements and congratulatory messages: Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores: A case of right to publicity versus commercial speech

Product endorsements by athletes are common brand-building tactics. The brand receives additional consumer attention and goodwill created by the athlete. The athlete receives compensation that may exceed their player salary. However, local sport heroes create community pride for their accomplishments. Fans show their pride by congratulating the sport star. Is a local, non-endorsing company allowed to offer similar congratulations? In 2012, a US appellate court was asked to decide a case where Michael Jordan claimed that a Chicago grocery store chain’s congratulatory message violated his right to publicity. Through an analysis of this legal case, this paper will discuss the following issues: the legal protections of non-commercial speech and commercial speech; should image advertising be considered as commercial speech for legal purposes; and Jordan’s right to publicity claims. Finally, an examination of the legal holding’s impact on sport marketing strategy will be offered.

Mobile application features sought after by patients of a regional grocery store chain pharmacy

ObjectiveTo determine the mobile application features for pharmacy services sought after by patients of a grocery store chain pharmacy. MethodsKey informant interviews were conducted at 5 Giant Eagle Pharmacy locations in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Patients older than 35 years who receive 1 prescription monthly from Giant Eagle and use a smartphone daily were eligible to participate. Interviews were audio recorded, and transcripts underwent thematic analysis. ResultsTwenty-four interviews were conducted from February to March 2014. The average age of participants was 51 years. About one-half of the participants (46%) were currently using mobile applications to manage their health. Three themes emerged regarding patients' desires for a mobile application: design that fosters an improved, convenient pharmacy experience; features that support the self-management of health; and design that increases personalized, timely access to pharmacists. ConclusionThis qualitative analysis revealed that pharmacy patients desire a mobile application that improves the convenience of their pharmacy experience, enables them to self-manage their health, and increases their access to their pharmacist.

Leading by Example: Values-Based Strategy to Instill Ethical Conduct

Years of research clearly shows that relying on traditional organizational power bases is not effective when companies want to promote business ethics and performance. It is not only that the use of legitimate power to establish ethics codes and coercive power to punish employees who do not comply does not work; this study—based on a multi-method research approach in the retail industry—indicates that the classic iron fist leads to unethical business values and lower service performance. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel for forward-looking managers. The ethical attitudes and behaviors of employees within international organizations is a dynamic variable that is possible to change by the use of values-based leadership. Our extensive study of a large grocery store chain owned by a multinational corporation indicates that managers who lead by example will boost team values and commitment.

Consumer Demand for Fair Trade: Evidence from a Multistore Field Experiment

Abstract We provide new evidence on consumer demand for ethical products from experiments conducted in a U.S. grocery store chain. We find that sales of the two most popular coffees rose by almost 10% when they carried a Fair Trade label as compared to a generic placebo label. Demand for the higher-priced coffee remained steady when its price was raised by 8%, but demand for the lower-priced coffee was elastic: a 9% price increase led to a 30% decline in sales. While consumers attach value to ethical sourcing, there is significant heterogeneity in willingness to pay for it.

A Multilevel Examination of the Impact of Team Interpersonal Processes

This study examined factors that affect individuals’ intentions to remain with their current organization, as well as team-level, manager-rated effectiveness, using a sample of 78 teams from a large grocery store chain within the Baltic region. The results suggest that team interpersonal processes play a key mediating role in facilitating both outcomes. Specifically, interpersonal processes had a positive effect on manager-rated team effectiveness. Furthermore, the quality of team interpersonal processes had a significant positive impact on employees’ commitment to the organization, which, in turn, was found to enhance employees’ intention to remain in that organization. Similarly, professional familiarity served as a salient antecedent of team interpersonal processes. This study, thus, offers evidence of the multilevel importance of interpersonal processes as a critical driver of both team- and individual-level outcomes.

Impact of passive and active promotional strategies on patient acceptance of medication therapy management services

ObjectivesTo assess the impact of passive and active promotional strategies on patient acceptance of medication therapy management (MTM) services, and to identify reasons for patient acceptance or refusal. MethodsFour promotional approaches were developed to offer MTM services to eligible patients, including letters and bag stuffers (“passive” approaches), and face-to-face offers and telephone calls (“active” approaches). Thirty pharmacies in a grocery store chain were randomized to one of the four approaches. Patient acceptance rates were compared among the four groups, and between active and passive approaches using hierarchical logistic regression techniques. Depending on their decision to accept or decline the service, patients were invited to take part in one of two brief telephone surveys. ResultsNo significant differences were identified among the four promotional methods or between active and passive methods in the analyses. Patients’ most frequent reasons for accepting MTM services were potential cost savings, review of how the medications were working, the expert opinion of the pharmacist, and education about medications. Patients’ most frequent reasons for declining MTM services were that the participant already felt comfortable with their medications and felt their pharmacist provides these services on a regular basis. ConclusionNo significant difference was found among any of the four groups or between active or passive approaches. Further research is warranted to identify strategies for improving patient engagement in MTM services.

New Sustainable Market Opportunities for Surplus Food: A Food System-Sensitive Methodology (FSSM)

An important way to address global food security is to make better use of the food already produced. Since at least one third of global food is wasted before consumption, there are enormous incentives to cut this waste and create a more sustainable food system. This paper focuses upon saving food loss at the supermarket level in the US and channeling this food stream in new and efficient ways to those in hunger. A more comprehensive Food System-Sensitive Methodology has been used to pilot and evaluate a surplus food management program that diverts culled fresh fruits and vegetables from grocery stores that would otherwise be disposed of in landfills. Instead, produce is processed for donation or for new businesses. Nearly 35,000 pounds of produce was culled from a grocery store chain in Philadelphia. Twenty-five percent of this was not suitable for culinary uses, ten percent consisted of relatively small quantities of food that did not warrant further research, and about 33 percent is suitable for use at area food shelters and pantries. An experimental sample taken from the remaining 15,000 pounds was used for recipe research and development for diversion to new commercial enterprises. We analyzed a scenario where a supermarket receives $0.25 per pound for culled produce, generating about $8700 dollars in average monthly revenue while eliminating disposal costs. New commercial possibilities for the unused food were then explored. The scenario included community-based enterprises that could process the produce into value-added products that could be wholesaled back to the store at sufficient profits to support 2 - 4 community employees. Extrapolating these results to the approximately 38,000 large supermarkets in the United States suggests that much of the 1,100,000,000 pounds of produce that is currently sent to landfills can be repurposed. If diverted to new foods each of the 46.1 million SNAP recipients could figuratively receive an equivalent of 24 pounds of fruit and vegetable products per annum. This initial analysis suggests that repurposing surplus produce from supermarket discards can have significant beneficial outcomes for new food markets and the environment.

An unusual case of abdominal pain.

CASE PRESENTATION A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) with vomitting and epigastric pain 1 h after eating raw, wild salmon, which he had purchased from a major chain grocery store. He experienced immediate onset of profuse emesis and upper abdominal pain with no diarrhea. The epigastric pain was severe (described as 8 of 10) and persisted for 2 h. On presentation to the ED 6 h after eating the fish, he had a fever of 39°C and continued to experience severe abdominal pain, which localized to the left upper quadrant. On examination, the patient had abdominal tenderness, which was worse over the left upper quadrant and epigastrium. Hematological tests revealed a hemoglobin level of 167 g/L, a platelet count of 96×109/L and an elevated white blood cell count of 11.4×109/L, with predominant neutrophilia but no eosinophilia. His chest x-ray was unremarkable, and stool culture for ova and parasites was negative. An abdominal x-ray revealed an abnormal contour of air surrounding the gastric mucosa, suggesting extensive lobular thickening. A subsequent computed tomography scan revealed uniform thickening of the ruggae in the fundus and body of the stomach, suggestive of acute gastritis or neoplasia. He underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), at which time a diagnosis was made.

“We are Jamaicans. We are Brothers”: History, Brotherhood, and Independence in Kerry Young’s Pao

Kerry Young’s first Novel, Pao, is written in the “voice” of a Chinese Jamaican, a voice that exhibits little if no syntactical or grammatical difference from those with whom he works and lives in the underworld of Chinatown in Kingston, Jamaica. Pao, our central protagonist, arrives to Jamaica in 1938, a time of tremendous social upheaval. The novel charts Pao’s growing political consciousness through his romantic relationships with: the “improper” black prostitute and madam, Gloria Campbell, who is the site of romantic love, and the “proper” Fay Wong, daughter of a grocery store chain owner and link to respectability. This article explores, not so much Pao’s linguistic assimilation, but his acquisition of a language of critique. The novel, I argue, functions as a dialogic interaction of evolving contexts of a public discourse over the representation of independence, the efficacy of rebellion, and “nation.” The China Pao’s family leaves “had become a country that was half feudal and half colonized,” a land that Pao’s father and uncle Zhang fought to wrest from “foreign control” to make China a land that would provide the “ordinary man” with opportunity to fend for himself and have a “decent life” (49). The Jamaica that greets the family is simultaneously a land of possibility and alienation. In the course of the novel, we see Pao as a “fixer,” a protector of women, children, sexual minorities, and local Jamaican businesses. One seminal moment in the novel occurs when he and his friends come to the defense of a Black local fruit cart salesman, who has been attacked by an American, and are called a “chink” and “niggers,” respectively. With his foot literally on the neck of the American, he announces that he is not a “Chink and these boys are not Niggers. We are Jamaicans. We are brothers” (33). This paper explores that which makes the claim “We are Jamaicans. We are brothers” possible.

Time Series Data Mining

Modern technologies have allowed for the amassment of data at a rate never encountered before. Organizations are now able to routinely collect and process massive volumes of data. A plethora of regularly collected information can be ordered using an appropriate time interval. The data would thus be developed into a time series. Time series data mining methodology identifies commonalities between sets of time-ordered data. Time series data mining detects similar time series using a technique known as dynamic time warping (DTW). This research provides a practical application of time series data mining. A real-world data set was provided to the authors by dunnhumby. A time series data mining analysis is performed using retail grocery store chain data and results are provided.

Urban Crime and Spatial Proximity to Liquor: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment in Seattle

There is a well-established correlation between retail liquor outlets and crime, but few studies identify causal effects. I exploit a unique source of identifying variation to establish causality: a 2012 privatization of liquor retailing in Washington State that rapidly expanded liquor availability into preexisting grocery and drug store chains. Based on 166,000 police reports from Seattle and a fixed-effects panel model, I find a significant positive effect of liquor availability on neighborhood crime both in OLS and IV estimates. Reducing the distance to the nearest liquor retailer by one mile leads to an average treatment effect of roughly 6 to 8 percent higher monthly crime rates. Violent crime and drug crimes are persistently affected, with more transitory effects on shoplifting and other non-violent crimes. Using an event study framework I investigate whether the results are due to new crime or spatial redistribution of existing crime, finding evidence of both effects. Overall, expanded liquor retailing appears to have had a significant causal effect on crime.

Solidarity, Sexuality, and Saving Muslim Women in Neoliberal Times

Desiring SolidaritySolidarity is a fundamental-even constitutive-concern of feminist theory and politics. Like a specter it haunts feminist imaginations periodically. Yet it is a slippery term. Certain expressions of feminist solidarity, we know, often gloss over divisions the name of unity. The pursuit of solidarity along these registers, I suggest, expresses a longing as much as it represents a political goal.1 Perhaps this desire (for home? for the transcendence of privilege and so a point of arrival?) explains the persistence or at least periodic revival of a language of sisterhood that is otherwise discredited.The trope of global sisterhood is especially powerful today; its affective power allows for its reinvention different idioms at different times. Most recently, neoliberal discursive regimes Euro-America have revived both global sisterhood and a politics of salvation/caring, deftly folding them into corporate marketing strategies. So it is that, for instance, the Whole Foods grocery store chain solicits donations for its microcredit programs for women in the developing world, as part of its stated mission to produce a future without poverty. In the same vein, the French luxury cosmetics company Clarins's FEED 15 campaign, as an expression of its humanitarian values, provides meals to hungry children worldwide through the World Food Program.2 Both ventures appeal, different ways, to a global cosmopolitan feminist sentiment located the North. By implication, the present of women and children Europe and the United States excludes poverty and hunger.3In this short essay, I am mainly interested the discourses of solidarity and sisterhood opened up by the collapse of Rana Plaza Savar, Bangladesh, 2013, which over eleven hundred garment factory workers were killed. Not surprisingly, First World solidarity with Third World workers figured centrally the coverage following the disaster. As horrifying images of the tragedy and its aftermath circulated across global media, the incident was rendered a spectacle for consumption. Like other such events, it was open to the most incendiary mobilizations.The new socially conscious Pope Francis immediately denounced as slave labor the working conditions Bangladeshi garment factories (Bangladesh 'Slave Labor' 2013). A year later, at a conference convened by the International Labor Rights Forum called Women's Rights the Apparel Industry: Ending Violence, Empowering Voices, a participant declared, We want to take these women out of The head of the National Organization for Women, a rousing speech, also condemned as slave labor factory work places like Bangladesh and Honduras.It is not my intention to caricature individuals or impugn their motives. I do not doubt the sincerity of individual concerns, feminist or otherwise. My interest rather is the work of the trope of slavery. Like trafficking and forced labor, slavery performs a specific discursive-ideological function. Its persuasive power lies representing extremes such as the Rana Plaza collapse as being outside the legitimate liberal capitalist system rather than constitutive of the system itself.In contrast to such incendiary calls to solidarity, a more informed and nuanced transnational activism around sweatshop labor foregrounds the essential complicity of Northern corporations and Bangladeshi capitalists the making of incidents such as the Rana Plaza collapse. This is critical terrain, which labor activists Bangladesh work side by side with activists the United States.4 For the most part, however, antisweatshop campaigns hinge on the power of the affluent Northern consumer to save poor Third World women through the former's ethical consumption practices. Solidarity is decidedly vertical.The Marketplace of SolidarityAs indicated earlier, feminist solidarity of a neoliberal kind has been marketized the global economy. …

Community partnership to address snack quality and cost in after-school programs.

Policies call on after-school programs (ASPs) to serve more nutritious snacks. A major barrier for improving snack quality is cost. This study describes the impact on snack quality and expenditures from a community partnership between ASPs and local grocery stores. Four large-scale ASPs (serving ˜500 children, aged 6-12 years, each day) and a single local grocery store chain participated in this study. The nutritional quality of snacks served was recorded preintervention (18 weeks spring/fall 2011) and postintervention (7 weeks spring 2012) via direct observation, along with cost/child/snack/day. Preintervention snacks were low-nutrient-density salty snacks (eg, chips, 3.0 servings/week), sugar-sweetened beverages (eg, powdered-lemonade, 1.9 servings/week), and desserts (eg, cookies, 2.1 servings/week), with only 0.4 servings/week of fruits and no vegetables. By postintervention, fruits (3.5 servings/week) and vegetables (1.2 servings/week) were increased, whereas sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts were eliminated. Snack expenditures were $0.26 versus $0.24 from preintervention to postintervention. Partnership savings versus purchasing snacks at full retail cost was 24.5% or $0.25/serving versus $0.34/serving. This innovative partnership can serve as a model in communities where ASPs seek to identify low-cost alternatives to providing nutritious snacks.

Pilot Study Evaluating Utilization Patterns of the $4.00 Pharmacy Program in a Community Retail Setting

To increase access, availability, and affordability, large retail pharmacies have initiated $4.00 monthly programs for generic medications. We conducted this pilot survey to determine the demographics and purchasing patterns of patients utilizing the $4.00 program at a community retail pharmacy setting in the United States. We conducted a pilot survey, with 20 questions, in North Texas at a large retail chain grocery store pharmacy. We collected data regarding demographics, medications purchased, and cost to the customer and then analyzed these data using descriptive statistics. Of the 60 pharmacy customers we approached, 54 (90 percent) consented to take the survey. Among the participants, 88 percent had some form of health insurance coverage, with the majority carrying either private insurance (63 percent) or Medicare (19 percent). Of the 27 individuals participating in the $4.00 program, 23 had some form of health insurance. Heart health/blood pressure medications were the most commonly purchased (31 percent), followed by cholesterol‐reducing medications (13 percent). This pilot survey illustrates that a majority of the individuals surveyed were aware of the program. However, only 50 percent of the study participants used the program, with 88 percent having some form of health insurance coverage.

A pilot study of grocery store sales: do low prices=high nutritional quality?

Purpose – Low fruit and vegetable intake is associated with heart disease, some cancers, and other major causes of death. Product pricing influences food purchases and economic declines have affected food budgets; therefore, this study examined the nutritional quality of advertised meal deals and buy-one-get-one free (BOGO) offers at three major grocery store chains over ten weeks. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – USDA's SuperTracker and Diet Analysis Plus were used for nutritional analyses of advertised offers over a ten-week time period in Fall 2011. Findings – Meal deal – ten-week averages per person: prices ranged from $1.25 to $5.00. Evaluation of MyPlate categories revealed the following percentage breakdown: empty calories – 57 percent, grains – 21 percent, protein – 12 percent, dairy – 8 percent, vegetables – 2 percent, and fruit – 0 percent. BOGO – ten-week averages: when examining MyPlate categories, nutritional quality was similar to meal deals in that few products were from the vegetable (12 percent) fruit (4 percent), and dairy (3 percent) groups. Originality/value – Research is sparse regarding nutritional quality of advertised sales at grocery stories.