The larger something is, the longer it takes to turn (sometimes with terrible results). But watch out. Once the turn starts, all the energy going into the effort creates a momentum that’s nearly impossible to stop.

Such is the case with Wal-Mart, the retailer everyone loves to hate. For years, it’s been attacked as a downscale, obese operation that kills the communities in which it opens. The unflattering portrait is often bolstered by small-business advocates and disgruntled employees who point out the chain’s blind devotion to selling at the lowest price, consequences be damned.

Those criticisms are coming fewer and farther between now, thanks to the company’s ongoing efforts in the area of sustainability and health and wellness. Just lat week, the retailer confirmed publicly that all of the eggs it sells in all of its stores are cage-free. The announcement prompted the Humane Society of the United States, a leader in animal welfare, to withdraw a shareholder resolution it submitted to Wal-Mart last November calling on the company to disclose its progress moving toward cage-free eggs.

Noting that Wal-Mart has 30% of the food retail market, HSUS is hoping it will influence other industry heavyweights.

“Wal-Mart’s move is a positive one, and we hope its competitors follow suit,” said Paul Shapiro, senior director of the group’s factory farming campaign.

Meanwhile, the March issue of The Atlantic includes an article by the magazine’s food writer, who finds that Wal-Mart’s produce sections are competitive with the basic offerings found at Whole Foods Market. Not only that, but the retailer has been diligent in trying to increase the availability of local-grown foods in its stores as part of its ongoing mandate to consider sustainability and a social consciousness in going about day-to-day business.

Wal-Mart’s idea of promoting “Heritage Agriculture,” an in-house concept introduced during the tenure of then-CEO Lee Scott in 2007, is but one aspect of this larger umbrella program that extends well beyond produce. more

Of the various wellness formats opened by conventional retailers over the past few years, only GreenWise endures. The Publix banner is still above the entrance to three stores, all in Florida. Now we know why.

Fried chicken.

A real eye-opening article from the Tampa Tribune profiles the city’s GreenWise, where Maseratis and Mercedes in the parking lot are no big deal. The neighborhood’s per capita income is among the highest in Hillsborough county, and the store reflects the local affluence, selling eco-detergents, hand-picked olives for $9.99 a pound and $36 bottles of vitamins.

Yet customers have been asking for Tide. The HBC section still has vitamins, but also standard fare like Tylenol.

And finally, in the store’s fresh meals department, where quinoa salad and specially prepared tuna filets are the norm, there is now a fried chicken display, “Right there up front,” the store manager is quoted as saying.

What’s going on? This is supposed to be a store for natural, organic and green products. That’s why you want to go there, as opposed to a regular Publix, right? Several things about this report are revealing. more

It’s great to see yet another retailer confronting the urgent need for sustainably sourced seafood. Today, Target announced that it will eliminate all farm-raised salmon from its stores in favor of the wild-caught Alaskan variety.

The decision came out of close consultation with the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, a widely respected organization that has established its own standards for sustainable fisheries. According to Target, the salmon farms it had previously sourced from pollute too much, leach chemicals into the environment, and allow parasites and non-native fish to disrupt surrounding habitats. Alaska’s wild-caught salmon, on the other hand, is intensively managed to protect the health of the species and the ecosystem.

“The company’s decision to address this issue represents an incredible willingness to challenge old paradigms in favor of sound science and environmental preservation, as well as provide real market value to its guests,” said Casson Trenor, a senior markets campaigner with Greenpeace, who’s been a tough critic in the past and who applauded Target’s decision.

This certainly is a big step for a major retailer. Americans have developed a big appetite for seafood, and farming operations have been able to provide supermarkets with large, reliable quantities. But, as Target aptly pointed out, there are issues with their impact on the environment — issues that have caught the eyes of many concerned shoppers. more

The new Health Starts Here program at Whole Foods Market launched at all of the chain’s 289 locations, and marks an interesting juncture in the evolution of the chain.

The retailer states the program is a “deepening of our commitment to healthy eating by providing education and support tools to inspire interest in foods that help improve and maintain health and vitality.”

Yours truly thinks it’s more a case of Whole Foods getting back to basics after a period of fast living; if nothing else, there were some bouts of binge eating that saw the chain more focused on growth than reinforcing its core values.

The recession has changed all of that. Profits dropped, shoppers sought cheaper options and the company’s fabled double-digit expansion ground to a halt. With the truck by the side of the road and the engine smoking, it seemed a good time to take stock of the situation.

To kickstart slumping sales, Whole Foods introduced a number of money-saving promotions and has given its 365 private label a higher profile. That kept enough shoppers coming back, but the chain must have also realized that over the past few years, as it made appeals to more mainstream, casual shoppers, it was alienating its core customer.

This latest initiative should please everyone, because the beauty is that it gives Whole Foods much-needed cache as a destination for weight management and healthy living, while providing a perfect excuse for culling the aisles of products, added during the high-living years, that don’t really — and never did — fit in with its core mission. more

We’ve been contributing to Refresh for more than two years (woohoo!), and in that time we’ve had fun watching retailers become bloggers themselves. Jim Hiller, president of Hiller’s in Detroit, muses at great length on the company website. Safeway’s blog gets regular updates from “Kate”, a proud mom and worker with the company. There’s also Yoke’s Fresh Market in Spokane, Wash., whose blog contributors include category managers like Ken Chapin, who heads up the meat department.

Well heads up, because another retailer joined the blogosphere last week, and it’s perhaps the most sophisticated one to date. AlbertsonsWellbeing.com is the new health and wellness blog and online community from Albertsons. It includes a superhero-esque lineup of contributors covering a range of culinary and wellness topics. There’s Kyle Gorham, “The Foodie”; Laurie Raymundo, “The Busy Mom”; pharmacist Jeff Ward, “The Fit Doctor”; and several others.

Just in the first couple days, contributors have posted on dieting in the New Year, the importance of cleaning out your medicine cabinet, and why it’s important to eat healthy throughout the day.

The beauty of blogging is that you can reach a wider audience, stay on top of the latest issues, and all while having a little fun. Writing here, we can let loose a bit, moreso than we could in print for SN Whole Health or Supermarket News. And supermarkets, likewise, can show their customers their lighter side. more

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack paid a visit to Hy-Vee in Des Moines, Iowa this week to talk a bit about healthy eating and that topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days — nutrition labeling.

The point of reference here was the NuVal system Hy-Vee uses, which ranks food on a 100-point scale, with higher numbers indicating more nutritious choices. It’s definitely one of the easier-to-understand programs out there, and Vilsack, having strolled the aisles with Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens checking out products (Frosted Mini Wheats, Mr. Secretary?), seems to agree. He praised NuVal and seemed — maybe? — to hint at the need for further label reform.

“If you take a look at a label — unless you’re a dietician or a chemist or a doctor — it’s really hard to determine between two products which is the best product for you and your family,” Vilsack said during a news conference at the store.

Amen to that. But if the secretary and the industry hopes to send a message about the need for clarity in nutrition labeling, they should be aware of what critics say about industry-led programs. According to them, the proliferation of different systems, each operating under different criteria, has only created further confusion. NuVal is different from Supervalu’s Nutrition IQ is different from Hannaford’s Guiding Stars, and so on. In one store you’ve got numbers, the other you’re reading the stars. more

It’s good to give credit where credit’s due. And as we come to the end of this unsettling year, it’s nice to know there’s a retailer getting recognized for what’s arguably the most important achievement of all: healthy, happy employees.

In a press release out this week, Meijer announced that it had received three separate awards touting its employee wellness efforts. There’s the “Fit Friendly Company” designation from the American Heart Association, the “Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles” recognition from the National Business Group on Health, and the “Most Effective Plan Implementation” for its health care plan, awarded by Consumer Directed Health Care Solutions Magazine.

Whew. That’s quite a list, and it relects Meijer’s decision to focus on employee wellness and stick with it, even through trying times. In addition to its highly touted benefits package, the company offers the day-to-day perks that make a difference over time, like swapping healthier food into its vending machines and the “Wellness Wednesdays” promotion at its corporate office that encourages employees to get out and take a walk during the work day.

We’re not surprised at the accolades. Two years ago, we gave Meijer our own award — the “Whole Health Enterprise Award”. In his cover story, my colleague Bob credited the company for its savvy, sensible approach to health and wellness.

Doesn’t look like much has changed.

Give consumers some credit — they know a lot about sustainability, and they like to know when they’re shopping a store that’s doing it’s part to make the world just a little bit greener.

It’s the retailer’s job to fill them in, of course. And that’s no easy task. How do you explain the new refrigeration systems in marketing language? What about that energy-saving doohickey that heats the front doors? Do you tell them about that?

Supermarkets have been shy about talking directly to their shoppers about sustainable design. Many just put out a press release and let us do the rest. But then there are those like Food Lion that really step up. The Salisbury, North Carolina-based retailer made headlines this week by opening its first “green” store in South Carolina — but for months, ever since it broke ground on the site in July, the company has been providing construction updates and education on its website.

Click over to their dedicated page, and you’ll find an interactive menu with tips, pictures, a video, and even a quiz aimed at promoting the new store. Take the quiz to discover that the store uses 20% less energy than a typical supermarket, has LED lights in its refrigeration units, uses low-flow water systems that conserve more than 140,000 gallons of water a year, and more. Didn’t score 100%? You should be ashamed of yourself. more

In the 15 years I’ve been writing and reporting on the food industry, I have never come across a poll or study stating that supermarket shopping is fun. Researchers pinpointed a number of reasons. Convenience, pricing and crowds might be the culprit in one study, while mundanity, necessity and a sense of sameness were to blame in others.

So, this is the first time I’m seeing a poll showing that a majority of shoppers stated they enjoy the act. The Nielsen Company conducted the survey, finding that more than one-half (53%) said they “really enjoy or like grocery shopping.”

In this study, everything was reversed: Only 9% responded that they dislike or hate shopping (38% of whom rush in and back out).

Another large group (again, 38%) stated that they consider food shopping a chore, but not an onerous one — though they admit they preplan their trips and know exactly where they need to go in order to speed their visits.

It was the “like” and “love” shoppers that caught my eye and got me thinking about what has changed in the supermarket industry since I started reading these polls in the early 1990s. Sure, times have changed. Not only are there more types of stores to shop, but stores in general are much more sophisticated and differentiated than they were back then. Do consumers equate those changes with a sense of fun? It would seem so, if the Nielsen poll is to be believed.

For example, some 18% of the consumers in the like/love-to-shop category regularly browse the entire store. That’s reflective of “treasure hunt” mentality encouraged by the club and dollar channels. Ever been to a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market? Again, these are retailers that promote lingering and browsing through a combination of unique products, distinctive environments and other factors. more

Add Whole Foods to the growing list of retailers offering incentives to employees who practice healthy lifestyles. According to Bloomberg News, the Austin, Texas-based company will soon introduce an insurance plan under which workers can get discounts of 20% to 30% depending on vital stats like cholesterol levels, whether or not they smoke, and so on.

You can judge for yourself how well this squares with CEO John Mackey’s opinions on healthcare. What’s more important is that the plan joins a positive new direction in healthcare. Retailers like Safeway, Hannaford, Hy-Vee and Giant are doing more than just making good health its own reward — they’re offering tangible savings that spur employees and allow them to benchmark their progress.

What’s notable, too, is that they’re offering the means to achieve these savings. Giant lets employees consult with store dieticians and develop nutrition plans. Safeway, meanwhile, lets its workers participate in its FoodFlex program that builds healthful meals, and also has a 17,000 square foot gym for its corporate employees. This year, the California-based retailer even held a “healthiest lifestyle” contest that included 400 teams of 10 employees each. more