(Photo: Left to Right: Bruce Wolverine, customer, and Blaire Janiver, employee of the Patuanak Northern store)

Children, elders, dietitians and RCMP officers all sipped iced tea as part of a Health Happy taste test at the Patuanak, SK Northern store.

In the taste test, Best Value’s 50% reduced sugar iced tea crystals was compared with regular iced tea crystals and the results were surprising: the majority of participants preferred the 50% reduced sugar beverage over the regular.

When booth holder and Northern Store employee Blaire Janiver asked one participant which product she liked better, she chose the reduced sugar option, saying she “really liked the taste that came along with it”.

Since the introduction of the Health Happy program in Northern and NorthMart stores one year ago, consumption of healthier food products has increased by nearly 15%. The purpose of the Health Happy program is to increase the accessibility of food products with reduced salt, sugar, caffeine, or fat content.