When you’re the best, you’re always looking to get better.

Colorado currently has the lowest obesity rate of any state in the union. If you look at this map from the Centers for Disease Control, it’s the only state colored blue, indicating that less than 20% of the population (the exact number is 18.5% as of 2008) is obese. That’s pretty good, especially when compared to Deep South states like Alabama and Mississippi, which have obesity rates above 30%.

So you’d think the Rocky Mountain state could kick back, have a veggie burger, and bask in its relative healthfulness. Wrong. Citizens and advocacy groups are working hard to keep their state in fighting form, and even bring obesity rates down further.

One organization called LiveWell Colorado just today released a “Food Policy Blueprint” that’s impressive for its comprehensiveness, and gives a glimpse into why the state is flying high. It focuses specifically on access and policy issues, encouraging a system of subsidies and other incentives to encourage healthy retailing and farmers markets in underserved areas, as well in schools. That’s targeting the most affected and at-risk segment of the population, and it echoes the Obama administration’s recent announcement that it will spend $400 million to help eradicate food deserts. more

The annual convention of the nation’s independent supermarket operators is being held this week in Las Vegas, and the consumer survey released every year to mark the occasion has some interesting insights into the mind of the whole health shopper.

The poll, conducted by the National Grocers Association and SupermarketGuru.com, devotes an entire section to “Nutritional Concerns,” and that’s where you see just how many of the nearly 2,500 chief household, mostly female shoppers remain committed to eating healthy despite the tough times.

When asked what concerns them most about the foods they eat, the simple “Desire to be healthy/eat what’s good for us” came in first, at 22%, far outpacing the other choices (fat content received 13%).

That desire is apparently translating into action. A full 27% stated their diets are healthy enough. More important, the number of those who admit shortcomings is falling: “Compared with a year ago, when 68% were critical of the foods they eat at home and away from home, this figure improves markedly to 62%,” the report said.

Fruits and vegetables are the most popular ways of improving diet, according to the survey, with 84% of respondents saying so. Less junk food was second (64%) and fewer fried foods was third (63%). more

Supermarkets take note: Whatever neat, unique things chefs do in their restaurants usually end up making their way back to the kitchen table. So, it’s always a good idea to keep track of the trends that are shaping the foodservice side of the business, since shoppers like to take those foods and serving ideas back to their home.

Fortunately, the National Restaurant Association taps its membership every fall and writes up a list of the hottest menu trends for the coming year. For 2010, there are some slight tweaks to last year’s list, but by and large, local sourcing and sustainable foods remain on top.

More than 1,800 chef members of the American Culinary Federation were interviewed on nearly 215 items in the “What’s Hot in 2010” survey.

“The top trends this year — local sourcing, sustainability and nutrition — reflect wider societal trends and consumers’ growing interest in these issues,” said Dawn Sweeney, the NRA’s president and CEO. “Many restaurants are sourcing some of their ingredients locally, and you often see chefs shopping at farmer’s markets to create a host of better-for-you options that today’s diners want.”

Whoa. That’s the same thing today’s shoppers want in the food stores they patronize. What’s going on here? It used to be that chefs were so far ahead — the food equivalent of those haute couture designers who accessorize their runway shows with designs that, to the uninitiated, provoke snorts and laughter — that it would take several years for their choice trends to pierce the retail environment. more

What’s more important to consumers: the safety of their food or the purity of it? That’s an important question, and one that doesn’t often get answered directly. Raw milk is the exception. It’s as straight-from-nature as you can get, yet it can contain harmful bacteria like salmonella and listeriosis. There’s been considerable tension between the two sides on the issue, and now the stakes have grown.

By some estimates, a million people in the U.S. regularly consume raw milk. That’s come off increasing demand over the past several years for whole, unprocessed foods, which advocates say possess vital nutrients that safety procedures like pasteurization eliminate. Raw milk has something of a reputation as a miracle healer, too. Parents have stories of how raw milk cured their child’s asthma, autism, Crohn’s disease, and cleared up their allergies.

For dairy farmers, this growing demand has created an alternative to the shamefully low prices offered for conventional and organic milk. According to a recent New York Times story, raw milk producers receive up to five or six times as much money per gallon — a real life-saver for struggling farmers. Methods of sale vary across the 23 states that allow the sale of raw milk. In California, you can find it in the grocery store, while in Virginia you can only drink it from a cow you own. more

It really says something about a supermarket’s commitment to fresh, local food when you can count the CEO among the list of growers.

That’s just what’s happening at Sunflower Farmers Market, where founder and chief executive, Mike Gilliland, operates a 40-acre farm in Longmont, Colo., that’s about to make its first shipment to stores. There’s cabbage, peppers, radishes, collard greens, bok choy, and a whole host of other crops popping up. Indeed, Gilliland’s farm isn’t just a figurehead — it’s a bona fide supplier, with plans to expand threefold next year as well as add a wind- and solar-powered greenhouse.

What’s most powerful here, though, is the message, and what it says about Sunflower’s strategy and its success. If you’ve been following retail news lately, you know that Sunflower has been growing like a weed ever since its founding in 2002, after Gilliland left the top post at now-defunct Wild Oats. The company got a $30 million injection of capital from a California investment firm last year, and now has 27 stores spread across six states in the southwest.

Sunflower likes to go after the cost-conscious consumer. But as the retailer’s quirky mantra indicates (“Serious Food. Silly Prices”), quality is also a main focus. That’s not an easy line to toe, but the company has clearly been successful, and Gilliland’s ambitious farm project is a good indication as to why.

Under the Obama administration, federal agencies have started taking progressive steps away from their former selves. We’ve written about this happening with the Food and Drug Administration, and it appears the U.S. Department of Agriculture is doing the same.

So what are we talking about here — an overhaul of organic? The end of large-scale farming? Noooo. Like its big brother the FDA, the USDA has come under leadership that’s forward-thinking, yet still willing to extend an olive branch of diplomacy to the food industry. They’re working to make modest-yet-meaningful changes within the agency’s current mandate.

Two examples:

Earlier this week, the USDA announced an initiative called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” aimed at increasing funding and awareness for local food systems. With a price tag of $65 million, the program is ambitious, and it’s addressing an issue of great interest to supermarkets, who have been stepping up their selection of local products but perhaps haven’t quite perfected the process. more

If you’re a local supermarket chain, stocking your shelves with food and beverage products from the area should be a priority. Instead, it seems as if most retailers are intent on becoming a sales outlet for national brands. This makes good business sense, probably, especially when talking about price and volume. It seems consumers like those two qualities as well.

This is where things start to slip. As chains grow, they become regional, then national (as in the case of Safeway, Kroger and Wal-Mart, among others). Going local becomes even more difficult. But there are still a number of independent retailers out there who thrive in the face of this overpowering competition.

B&R Stores is one example of local connections in action. In the past week, the employee-owned, Lincoln, Neb.-based operator has added the Platte River Ranch Natural Angus Beef program, as well as dairy products from Prairieland Dairy, located in nearby Firth, Neb.

The beef program, debuting this month, features cuts from Greater Omaha Packing Company, Inc., the same local company that provides steaks to a number of top area restaurants. It’s 100% grain-fed beef, just the way Nebraskans like it. The photo above shows a couple of Platte River Ranch T-bone steaks looking good on the grill.

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It’s hard to get past the heat and think ahead to the cool days of fall and…..the “season-that-cannot-be mentioned” (in my best Harry Potter style). But our customers are already thinking of tailgating, packing lunches and, in the East, capturing the flavor of the last of the local products. From a nutrition and retailer’s viewpoint, all of these can be positive, but it takes the planning and merchandising.

Points like these are even more important in the economic crunch facing many of our customers. Here are some points to consider in remembering that eating healthy is a 12-month proposition, especially when dollars are tight:

• Go into the freezing and “canning” mode. Locally grown produce — the late summer/ early fall harvest fruits and vegetables — are great buys for our customers. Combine them with freezer and canning supplies, demonstrations or Q & A sessions. If this isn’t your expertise, check out your state’s Cooperative Extension for some help. Salsas, chutneys and ready-made vegetables for soups combine nutrition with savings.

• Think back to school and daycare, promoting the basics of a meal with health in mind. A grain (preferable whole), protein (lower-fat and lower-sodium deli choices, lower-fat cheeses, yogurt, as well as hummus and nut butters) and fruits and veggies are the staples. Add single-serving milk or 100% juice and you have a winner. Don’t forget suggesting sunflower seeds or soy butters as an option when there are peanut allergies.

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I don’t know about the rest of the country, but here in New York the summer is just getting going after a very (very…) wet start. And since it is finally summer, I thought it’d be appropriate to talk about local products — specifically, a couple new local programs that have sprung up at supermarkets across the nation.

After all, even though the whole “local” trend is old news, the way that companies are interpreting it certainly isn’t.

Save Mart — The Modesto, California retailer just aired the first episode of its new TV program, “Bringing It Home”, which highlights California farmers and the chefs that cook what they grow. The show airs every Saturday and is scheduled to run through the end of this year.

Dorothy Lane Markets — This three-store retailer based in Dayton, Ohio recently partnered with local CSA (community supported agriculture) Farm 2 Fork Fresh, agreeing to use the stores’ produce departments as a pickup spot for weekly deliveries of freshly picked produce. DLM also recently defined “local” as anything sourced from within a 250-mile radius of its stores.

Safeway — The Pleasanton, California-based retailer — the fifth largest chain in the country, according to SN’s “Power 75” rankings — claims to source a third of its produce from local growers. Last month the company started marketing around that and expanding its list of area growers under a new program called, simply, “Locally Grown”. more

“Local” is a pretty relative term at most supermarkets, but not at Woodlands Market in Kentfield, California, where customers will soon be able to buy fresh food grown a mere mile away from the store. We talked to owner Don Santa recently about his new farm development, his vision, and his ties to the area.

Talk about this farm project of yours — where’d the idea come from and where does it stand now?

I have 20 acres, although we’ll probably only be initially producing on three to five acres of it. We’re still planning it out, laying out the space right now. This is sort of a fusion of victory garden and our own slow food movement where we’re bringing that sort of energy all into one community, and of course putting a local retail flavor in it.

What crops will you grow, and do you have a dollar or quantity estimate for everything?

Whatever’s possible. Everything from heirloom tomatoes to char to squash, artichoke, beets, herbs, basil, you name it. It’s going to be extensive, and there will be seasonal aspects to it as well. We’ll do grapes, peaches, apples, cherries. We have a perfect microclimate for almost anything.

What sort of expertise have you employed to help plan this all out?

Well, my produce guy, who’s been with us for 25 years, is going to do most of this. Then I’ve also got a horticulturalist and people who are helping me design and layout and engineer this who have worked with Alice Waters. more