Making changes
We've many initiatives looking at ways to enhance the nutritional composition of our food and drink products.
Finding a balance
We make no apologies for making foods that contain fats, salt and sugar. They add flavour, help preserve food and can be essential for creating the right texture. And foods with these ingredients can play a vital role in a healthy balanced diet - providing eating pleasure and helping make food fun, when eaten in the right quantities.
But as a large, global business we're in a unique position to help people reduce their consumption of these ingredients and we've many projects looking at how we can make a difference.
We also act fast when new research shows that tried and tested ingredients are not good for health.
For example, in 1995 research suggested that trans fatty acids (trans fats) have as adverse an effect on blood cholesterol than saturated fatty acids (saturated fats). This concerned us as high blood cholesterol increases the risk of coronary heart disease. So we quickly decided to practically eliminate any components containing trans fats from our margarine – although there was no legal requirement to do so.
Most European margarine manufacturers subsequently followed our lead. Now further research has shown increasing evidence that trans fatty acids are probably even more detrimental to health than saturated fatty acids.
