In a poll conducted last year by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, 58% of consumers said it’s important to them that supermarkets stock humanely labeled food. That’s a lot of consumers who are — or would like to be — compassionate carnivores. Retailers like Safeway and Whole Foods, both of which recently updated their animal welfare guidelines, have tuned in to the trend. Same with many restaurants, including fast-casual chain Chipotle, whose sales have gone gangbusters since they started selling humanely raised meat from Bell & Evans, Niman Ranch and others.

Many supermarkets have started selling cage-free eggs, free-range chicken and beef, and other selections that make a specific humane treatment claim. Some have also begun sourcing meats verified by humane advocacy organizations, like the American Humane Association’s “American Humane Certified” label.

Acknowledging this popularity, the WSPA recently ranked the top 25 supermarket chains on their availability of humanely labeled foods. Whole Foods came out on top, nearly doubling the score of the runner-up company, Wegmans Food Markets. Also scoring high were Harris Teeter, Kroger, and — in a bit of vindication for its recent seafood snub from Greenpeace — Publix.

The WSPA based its rankings not only on the number of humanely labeled foods carried, but the integrity of the labels: How many aspects of animal care were covered? Were the standards verified by a third party? Cage free, free range and grass fed labels were dubbed “A Good Start;” pasture raised and USDA organic were classified as “Even Better;” and third-party certifications were “The Best.”

This sort of system could be helpful for consumers, but more than anything it highlights just how fractious and confusing such labeling is. Consumers are prepared to pay a premium for animal welfare, but how do they choose between pasture raised, free range and Certified Humane? Can they even parse their values in such a fashion?

This is definitely something for supermarkets to ponder. In the meantime, they need to back everything up with transparent marketing and education.

For supermarket executives, health and wellness is synonymous with employee benefits. To wit:

-Safeway president and CEO Steven Burd has made health care one of his signature issues. He’s even talking about a plan to use elements of the chain’s consumer-oriented FoodFlex system in the company employee health plan by 2009.

“If someone wants to opt in to demonstrate a nutritious lifestyle, I think we’ll be the first company to grant premium reductions for that,” he said.

-After years of criticism, Wal-Mart has been busy trying to improve the way it insures its 1.4 million U.S. associates. On February 7th, the mega-retailer launched a multi-faceted campaign called “Better Health Care Together.” The announcement includes four “common sense” principles for achieving a new American health care system by 2012, one of which is the ability for consumers to take more responsibility and control over their own health care.

There are other examples out there, and as one of the highest expenses in any company’s operating budget, you can bet there will be more. Just this week, Hannaford Bros. signed on with RedBrick Health, a health services company that is spearheading a new area of employee healthcare called Consumer-Owned Health.

Under the Hannaford program, 2,000 company associates who are already enrolled in a health plan will receive augmented support from RedBrick as a way of transitioning them to to take a more active role n their health (read: preventative measures). In this role, RedBrick Health guides employees through plan selection, consolidates multiple sources of health plan data, provides uniform reporting. It’s expected that this kind of third-party intervention will save Hannaford big bucks down the road.

This is the next generation of health care, and the supermarket industry — with its army of unskilled, hourly wage earners — is among the first to glimpse it; likewise, companies have the chance to shape policy that’s still in not set in stone. Time to get to it.