Making Expert Nutrition Advice Accessible and Actionable with Instacart Health

It should be easy to understand how nutritious a food is, but we’ve all been there – studying the fine print on a package, trying to figure out how it fits into our health needs and goals. Deciphering the numbers and ingredients sometimes feels more complicated than it should be. 

Yesterday, the FDA took a meaningful step in updating the definition of “healthy” for food labels. This move aligns with a core part of Instacart Health’s mission to empower people with clear, actionable information about their food. We’re proud to play a role in turning expert guidance like this into practical, everyday solutions.

When it comes to food and nutrition, understanding the science is one thing – but making it approachable for every person in their day-to-day lives is another. That’s where Instacart Health comes in. We’re working to make this expert nutrition advice ‘shoppable,’ meaning consumers will be able to easily identify which grocery items meet the FDA’s new criteria and shop accordingly. 

With millions of unique food items available across more than 85,000 stores on our marketplace, we process billions of catalog updates daily. We’re committed to further digitizing nutrition facts and ingredients and expanding Health Tags – our nutrition-focused search filters – to make it easier for consumers to connect the dots between their health and the food in their carts. Whether it’s managing dietary restrictions like gluten, sodium, or sugar, aligning with the FDA’s updated “healthy” standards, or finding inspiration for nutritious meals, our tools make the process intuitive.

Using Health Tags and additional tools like Virtual Storefronts, which make expert-recommended nutritious foods easy to shop from, and our Instacart Developer Platform, APIs that allows any nutrition organization or app to make recipes and lists shoppable, we’re helping people discover nutritious foods that meet their unique needs and preferences. 

We know that the path to healthier communities starts with empowering individuals. By offering tools that make online grocery shopping more informed and intentional, we’re helping ensure that every meal has the potential to be both nourishing and delicious.

Over the past year, we’ve seen how our platform and partnerships can break down barriers to getting nutritious food. This year, we’ve launched new programs with providers like Northwell Health, NY’s largest health system, Medicaid managed care plans like Molina Healthcare of Michigan, and published research with leading academic institutions like Meharry Medical College and its Journal for Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. We’re using our platform and Instacart Health technology to help more people make more informed decisions when shopping for their groceries. 

At Instacart, our mission has always been to ensure everyone can get the food they need to live well. As the conversation around health and nutrition continues to evolve, we remain committed to helping families nationwide find the foods that work best for them. 

For more on the partnerships and programs we’ve launched through Instacart Health, visit our Health blog here. 

Sarah Mastrorocco

Author

Sarah Mastrorocco is Vice President and General Manager of Health for Instacart. A longtime Instacart veteran and leader, Sarah today oversees Instacart Health, designed to support businesses, nonprofits and consumers across three key areas: Nutrition Security, Making Healthier Choices Easier, and Food as Medicine. Sarah has played an integral role at Instacart since joining as the first member of the company’s business development team in 2014. During her tenure at Instacart, she’s taken on various leadership positions across Business Development, Account Management, and Catalog. Prior to this current role, Sarah oversaw and scaled Instacart’s Pickup business.