With over 40,000 products in the average supermarket, people don't have time (or the money) to test every product on the shelves – so we do it for you!

Each week we will post the latest reviews and I hope you will log in to see what’s hot…and what’s not!

Each product is judged and taste-tested based on the following seven criteria:

1. (30 points) Taste: The most important attribute of any food

2. (20 points) Value: Is it worth it?

3. (15 points) Health: Based off the nutritional information, is it nutritionally balanced?

4. (15 points) Ingredients: What's in it, how natural is it?

5. (10 points) Preparation: When applicable, how accurate or good are the directions?*

6. (5 points) Appearance: Is it appetizing and does it resemble its photo or description?

7. (5 points) Packaging: Is it appropriate for the product and does it have any benefits such as reseal ability, added freshness, better storage, etc?

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

Sunsweet Ones Individually Wrapped Prunes

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
30	18	15	15	10	5	5	98

New Sunsweet Ones Individually Wrapped Prunes is a very clever idea; great for kids, great for travel, great for the office and any time you're on the go. The individual wrappers make them perfect to throw into a pocket or bag for whenever you want a sweet treat, without the indulgence or guilt of candy or chocolate. An added bonus is that the wrapper seals in moisture – ensuring a softer dried fruit than from a large bag. Overall this is a great new product. The only thing about it we don't like about it is the name; we think they could have come up with something a little bit more imaginative… Retails for $2.35 / 7 oz container.

Sunsweet Growers Inc, Yuba City, CA
800 417 2253
sunsweet.com

Sweete Stevia Sweetener

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
28	14	12	12	10	5	5	86

Sweete is a "Naturally Grown, Zero Calorie Stevia plant extract" and it does taste like sugar. The texture is more grainy than sugar, but it has a good flavor. Native to South America and Central America Stevia is a species from the sunflower family. As a sweetener, Stevia's taste has a slower onset and more lingering sweetness than that of sugar and sometimes may have a bitter aftertaste – comparable to licorice. Sweete has avoided this by using two different extracts (Stevioside and Rebaudioside-A) and also by adding Maltodextrin and unidentified flavors in the ingredients. There are going to be many more Stevia based sweeteners appearing on your supermarket shelves in the future. It makes sense to go for one that is 100% Stevia rather than a blend and let your taste buds become aware of all different types of sweetness. Who said that the gold standard for sweet flavor had to be white processed sugar anyway? Retails for $7.49 / 1.75oz – 50 sachets.

Weider Global Nutrition, Salt Lake City, UT
800 435 3948
mysweete.com

Enjoy Life Sunbutter Crunch Soft and Chewy Snack Bar

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
22	19	13	13	10	3	5	85

Here's a snack bar with a difference – from a company that ensures that all their products are safe for those with gluten intolerance or Celiac disease, which we love! This sunflower seed bar is different from most snack bars because it's not sweet – a great alternative to chips or pretzels for those snackers who don't have a sweet tooth. On the down side the Sunbutter Crunch is somewhat lacking in flavor. However our biggest issue is the package labeling – stating the products are "Allergen Free" on the label is just too misleading to consumers – in tiny type it concedes "Free of all common allergens". We think it would be a more fair claim to inform consumers that the product does not contain any of the 8 most common allergens (wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, soy, fish and shellfish) – or casein, potato, sesame or sulfites – which is enough of a claim in itself without giving consumers the impression of false safety that makes them feel they don’t have to read the ingredients to be sure they are avoiding the specific allergens they need to. Enjoy Life have a wide variety of products. Retails for $4.50 / 5oz package containing 5 bars.

Enjoy Life, Schiller Park, IL
888-50-ENJOY
enjoylifefoods.com

Minute Ready to Serve Brown Rice

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
20	18	10	10	10	5	5	78

This new product from Minute Rice is great for convenience – it's pre-cooked, so it literally takes one minute. However, the pre-cooking results in a softer texture which is probably great for kids, but we're wondering if anyone accustomed to the nutty, chewy texture of brown rice would be really satisfied with this. The problem we have with this product is the high oil content (4.5g of fat in one tiny container) and the sodium content (175mg). For the sake of convenience the product is giving up health, nutrition and taste – way too much compromise in this era of innovation in the convenience food industry! Retails for $1.59-$1.69 / 8.8 oz (two 4.4 oz cups).

Riviana Foods Inc., Houston, TX
800 646 8831
minuterice.com

Slim-fast Optima Milk Chocolate Shake

Taste	Value	Health	Ingredients	Prep	Appearance	Packaging	Total
22	17	5	3	10	4	4	65

New Slim-fast Optima has a very chocolate-y aroma and taste – so if you like chocolate this drink will satisfy your taste and aromatic cravings at least! Any kind of meal replacement beverage (or bar) has to be high on the flavor profile scale for anyone to stick with it, so this product might work for the choco-holics out there. However, we can't help thinking that if you want to lose weight it's about more than just fooling your taste buds with sweetness and chocolate taste – and with 18g of sugar and all the artificial ingredients, can this really be considered a healthy weight-loss choice? Food companies have to start to look at things holistically; shifting the focus towards balanced nutrition instead of trying to convince consumers that artificial taste and flavor is the path to weight loss and health. Available in other flavors. Retails for $6.69 / 6 cans.

Slim-fast, Englewood, NJ
800 211 9613
slim-fast.com