MCLEAN, VA - Supermarkets are increasingly hiring companies to score their foods?? nutritional value, USA Today reports.

Since October, Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kroger has implemented food scoring at its 143 King Soopers supermarkets in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, working with NuVal, one of the nation??s largest nutritional rating companies.

"It's been very well-received by our customers," said Kelli McGannon, a spokeswoman for King Soopers, adding the company has hired dietitians to interact with consumers and help them understand NuVal.

East Coast supermarket chain Lowes Foods implemented NuVal at its 107 stores last summer, a move that vice president Heather George said helps consumers navigate the complexities of food labels and nutritional values.

"Because the numbers go from 1 to 100, there??s a lot more ability to compare scores," she said.

The two largest food-scoring companies, NuVal and Guiding Stars, have licensed their scoring systems to more than 3,000 grocery stores nationwide, and the number is growing.

Last fall, the Institute of Medicine recommended that the federal government develop a nutrition rating system that would appear on food packages, concluding that calories, fats, sugar and sodium content be displayed to help guide purchasing decisions.

The Food and Drug Administration, through a spokesperson, said the agency is reviewing the institute??s recommendations and determining its next steps.

Not everyone is on board with the scoring foods. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University, said there is little value in learning whether one potato chip is "slightly better for you" than another.

"I think their purpose is to sell food products," Nestle said. "If you want to encourage people to eat healthy, you want to encourage them not to eat food products. You want them to eat real food."

Food scoring companies respond that it??s unrealistic to think people will completely eliminate processed food in their diets, and that their systems help consumers make incremental changes in adopting a healthier diet.