“Clean labels. Whole grains. Gluten-free. Antioxidants. Omega-3s. Those seven words sum up new food-product introductions of 2009,” that’s what syndicated columnists Bonnie Tandy Leblang (that’s me!) and Carolyn Wyman wrote to introduce our year end best and worst picks of the year.

Together we coauthor Supermarket Sampler, a weekly review of what’s new on the grocers’ shelves syndicated by Andrews McMeel/Universal Press and written in two voices: mine, the registered dietitian, and Carolyn Wyman’s, a professed junk foodie.

Each year we pick our joint “Double Forks Down” or why-did-they-make them list of foods introduced in 2009, our individual best-of-the-year picks plus the one product we agreed was both tasty and good for you. The latter earns our annual Golden Shopping Cart of the Year Award. This is the 20th year we’ve given this award.

Past recipients of the Golden Shopping Cart have included: Birds Eye Steamfresh, Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour made with Ultragrain, Uncle Ben’s Original Long Grain and Original Brown Ready Rice, Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine Lemongrass Chicken and Ore-Ida Steam n’ Mash frozen Cut Russet and Sweet potatoes. Each of these — as well as this year’s winner — has also been selected for a FeaturedBite on this site.
Golden Shopping Cart
The winner of this year’s Golden Shopping Cart Award for best new food product of 2009 is Kellogg’s FiberPlus Antioxidant Bars (also a FeaturedBite!) The bars are rich in fiber, whole grains and antioxidants and they taste delicious.

For the entire column — with details of Bonnie and Carolyn’s picks and pans — click here.

– bonnie