Dive Brief:

• Pure Market, an online product grading platform that rates food and household products across 400 attributes, launched this week, according to a company press release.
• The startup grades products according to contaminants, heavy metals, nutritional content and label accuracy. After testing is complete, the company compares results to similar products to determine a product’s A-to-F grade.
• Pure Market sells products on its site that receive a B- or above. The company plans to expand its product offerings to include baby, food and beverage, personal care and pet food.

Dive Insight:

Pure Market lets users view grades for products side by side, with the options to sort by criteria like diet (paleo or gluten-free, for example) or brand, or to make it easier to see products by rating. If they have a B- or better, shoppers may be able add that item to their cart to purchase.

With consumers looking for healthier options and wanting to know what is in the products they buy, there is more information available than ever, but it’s often hard to find it in one place. The Pure Market site puts this info front-and-center, allowing customers to compare brands.

The clean label movement has led to a proliferation of products that bear minimal ingredient lists and label claims focused on simple, healthful formulations. Pure Market evaluates a more comprehensive set of product information and also puts clean label claims to the test with its "Accuracy" grade, which confirms that the product’s content is consistent with what its label says.

Other retailers looking at similar initiatives includes Kroger, which launched its OptUp app to help shoppers navigate nutritional claims. The app lets shoppers make selections and then shows them other options that may be better for them. Raley’s, which has long been seen as a healthy retailer, recently expanded its shelf labeling system that calls attention to certain desirable product attributes like "minimally processed" or "nutrient dense." 

Pure Market’s leadership said its testing process goes straight to what consumers want: transparency. "Our company mission is to level set the industry and go beyond product labels and marketing speak to provide true, unbiased insights to shoppers on what exactly is in the products they consume – and feed their families and pets – every day," said Sunny Kapoor, Pure Market’s senior vice president of digital product management, in a statement.