Apples get three stars. So do salmon filets and Grape Nuts cereal. Pasta gets two stars. Granola bars get one.

But a lot of foods that label themselves as healthy, such as well-known low-calorie frozen entrée brands, canned vegetable soups, lean deli meats, and pasta sauces, didn't even merit a single star.

The starred ratings are part of the new Guiding Stars program at Hannaford Brothers, a New England grocery chain. Using their own criteria system (I think it's official name is "Common Sense") created by an independent scientific panel, they set up a storewide nutritional navigating system. They analyzed the calorie, fat, sodium, fiber, and other nutritional information of their products to come up with their star system. More stars means more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and whole grains and less saturated and trans fats, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars.

The stars are meant to help shoppers identify at a glance the truly healthy stuff from foods that merely advertise themselves as healthy. All without having to read the nutrition labels.

In other words, even if a bag of so-called healthy baked potato chips are a better choice than chips that are fried, rippled, and dunked in orange cheese product, it still doesn't make them healthy.

Naturally, the ratings aren't going over too well with the corporate food world. They insist that their products are indeed healthy, at least according to the Food and Drug Administration's regulations. They also say that the consumer should trust those guidelines, rather than the store's overly stringent criteria.

It's a controversial issue for some folks, but I'm not one of them.

Personally, I hope this sparks a national trend, and that my grocery store is quick to jump on it. After all, who has time to study each nutritional label before deciding what gets tossed into their carts? If I'm facing a row of canned soups, I'd love to instantly know which are better for me.

A starred cheat sheet from a reliable source would be a great shortcut. I'm sure I'd still buy lots of zero-star foods, but at least I won't be surprised by it's less-than-stellar nutritional value once I get around to reading the fine print.

Photo credit: The New York Times