New Products Hits & Misses for 09/30/2009

Ratings Criteria

With over 50,000 products in the average supermarket, people don't have the time, or the money, to test every product on the shelves and with 15,000 new products every year consumers need to know what's out there!

So Phil does the testing and the tasting for you and gives the product a rating out of 100 so you know what you can expect when you try something new!

SupermarketGuru does not sell the foods we review, nor receive any compensation from the manufacturers for reviewing or rating them.

Phil taste-tests and judges each product based on the following 8 criteria:

(30 points) Taste: The most important attribute of any food
(20 points) Value: Is it worth it?
(15 points) Health: Based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?
(15 points) Ingredients: What's in it, how natural is it?
(5 points) Preparation: When applicable, how accurate or good are the directions *
(5 points) Appearance: Is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description
(5 points) Packaging: Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as resealability, added freshness, better storage, etc.
(5 Points) Sustainability: Is the packaging biodegradable, is it wasteful, is the company endeavoring to offset their carbon footprint?

* products that do not have any preparation will have the full value of these points included in their total score

Stonyfield Organic White Chocolate Raspberry Cream Top Yogurt

96

This product is a HIT! Stonyfield Farm has one of the best organic yogurts on the shelf. From day one they have been committed to high quality and being sustainable. Their new White Chocolate Raspberry has an interesting flavor. La Yogurt tried a chocolate yogurt decades ago and it just tasted artificial - not this one - this recipe is great. I did expect a more intense chocolate flavor; having said that I really do like the fact that the chocolate is not overpowering. So for you chocoholics out there you’ll probably be disappointed, but remember that white chocolate is just made from milk solids, sugar and cocoa butter and doesn’t contain any cacao. It is organic and one of the best tasting flavored yogurts I've tried in a long time. Retails for $0.89.

Stonyfield Farm
800 776 2697
http://www.stonyfield.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Celestial Seasoning Sleepytime Vanilla

93

This product is a HIT! I first tasted Sleepytime in college, and haven't tried it since! It’s been one of the signature teas from Celestial Seasonings and now they’ve added Sleepytime Vanilla. Sleepytime is a blend of chamomile, spearmint and lemongrass – while the touch of vanilla is a nice delicate addition, frankly I think most people who buy it will be disappointed there is not more vanilla aroma and flavor. Retails for $2.99.

Celestial Seasonings, Inc
800 351 8175
http://www.celestialseasonings.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Progresso High Fiber Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

87

This product is a HIT! Now that summer’s over it’s time to think about soup and Progresso has just introduced their new line of high fiber soups, all of which contain almost one third of the daily fiber requirement. I tried the Creamy Tomato Basil because I love tomato soup. Typically I do not favor creamy tomato soups, but this is an exception. A nice tomato aroma and flavor coupled with 7 g of fiber makes this a winner. Yes it’s high in sodium, with 690 mg and yes its 13 g of sugars may give you cause for concern, but with no MSG and no artificial ingredients Progresso did good! 1 can is 2 servings of vegetables and I really like that the label is clear and easy to read. Retails for $2.69.

General Mills Cereals, LLC
800 200 9377
http://www.progressosoup.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Alexia Crunchy Snacks Onion Strips

87

This product is a HIT! My first introduction to fried onion rings was at the Red Chimney on Route 3 in Clifton, New Jersey. Ever since then I’ve been hooked. Alexia, who made their mark in the frozen food case with a terrific line of frozen potatoes has now moved to the snack aisle. Forget all those other chips – these crunchy Onion Strips are delicious. Yes they’re more expensive, but they ARE made from real vegetables, have no trans fats and contain nothing artificial, I’m just hoping that next up Chef Alex can use his culinary skills to develop onion strips that are gluten free. Retails for $2.49 - $2.79.

Alexia Foods, Inc
866 484 8676
http://www.alexiafoods.com

Scoring Breakdown:

A.A. Borsari Seasoned Salts Original, Citrus and Orange Ginger Flavors

88

This product is a HIT! I’m a sucker for clever packaging, these seasoned salts from A.A. Borsari are sold separately, but the stack-ability is very clever, yes it’s salt and for those who have high blood pressure or hypertension these are not for you, but for the rest of us this is an interesting addition to your spice cabinet. The three flavors, Original, Citrus and Orange Ginger are a course grind and are perfect as a rub, or to cook with. These are not for sprinkling. They’re all fresh without MSG, dehydrated ingredients or preservatives. Flavor wise I’d love a little bit more citrus and a little bit more orange ginger, but I am just being picky. Retails for $2.90 each flavor.

Borsari Food Co., Inc
716 763 3391
http://www.borsarifoods.com

Scoring Breakdown:

Thank You

We hope you enjoyed this edition of

New Product
Hits and Misses

If you would like Phil to consider your new product for review, please send 4 samples of each flavor you to submit for review, with the suggested retail price and other product information. We regret that we can not review all products submitted. Please send to:

New Product Review
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Santa Monica, CA 90405

Product reviews are conducted by randomly selecting one flavor of a product and taking into consideration the information available on the package itself as it would appear in the retail environment. Information contained in advertisements or on websites is not taken into account for evaluation or ratings.

Email danielle@supermarketguru.com with any questions and whenever possible please be environmentally friendly when packaging your products.