Our contribution
We can make a difference to the diets of consumers by improving the nutritional quality of our foods and beverages. Our Nutrition Enhancement Programme (NEP) continues to do this by reducing levels of trans fat, saturated fat, salt and sugar. This is done by assessing our products using benchmarks based on international dietary guidelines.
Since late 2005 the NEP has been reviewing our food and beverage portfolio. In 2007 we completed the assessment of all 22 000 retail and food service products. From this review we found around a third of products are in line with internationally accepted guidelines for fat, sugar and salt, qualifying them for the Choices stamp. This process has led to plans for improving the nutritional quality of more than half our total portfolio.
The NEP has led to significant changes in many of our products. For example:
Sugar:
Salt:
Fat:
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In making these reductions we have had to balance nutritional content against how a product tastes so that we do not spoil consumers' enjoyment of our foods. This is a difficult task for our product developers since in blind tasting consumers often prefer well-salted products or those with higher levels of fat. An article discussing these benchmarks and the role they can play in improving the nutritional quality of foods and beverages was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2007.
Increasing consumer information
Helping consumers make healthier choices means providing clear information.
Using a front-of-pack stamp, the Choices Programme enables consumers to identify healthier products – foods and drinks that are in line with internationally accepted dietary advice on fat, sugar and salt. The stamp is complemented by back-of-pack nutrition information.
Choices continues to make progress with its roll-out around the world with products carrying the Choices stamp available in over 50 countries.
The Choices programme is open to all companies to use and can be applied to most foods and drinks. In 2007 the Choices International Foundation was launched with an independent International Scientific Committee to help monitor the qualifying criteria for the programme.
We are committed to providing nutritional information on all our product packs. In Europe, we are participating in a voluntary CIAA (Confederation of Food and Drink Industries of the European Union) nutritional labelling initiative which complements Choices. Under this initiative, on the back of all our packs we will show the levels of eight key nutrients (energy, protein, carbohydrates, sugars, fat, saturates, fibre and sodium) per 100g/ml and five of these (energy, fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt) as percentages of guideline daily amounts (GDA). We will also show calories on the front of packs as a percentage of GDA.
In Europe, around 50% of our products now show this level of information and by the end of 2008 we aim for this to rise to 90%.
We are extending this approach to other regions too where market conditions allow. In Australia, for example, we follow the CIAA approach.
In the UK, along with all major manufacturers and most retailers, we mark GDA on the front of pack too.
Innovating to improve consumer choice
Increasingly our innovations focus on making a positive contribution to people's diets. More than two-thirds of the products in our R&D pipeline have what we call 'Vitality' benefits: specific nutritional and health benefits.
To improve consumer choice we provide a range of variants. For example, in mayonnaise we offer Hellmann's Original mayonnaise (80% fat), Hellmann's Light (30% fat) and Hellmann's Extra Light (3% fat). The Extra Light variant employs new technology using natural citrus fibre, this reduces oil and calorie content while maintaining a creamy texture.
We also offer smaller portion sizes, for example in ice cream, our 60 ml Magnum Mini Classic contains 163 calories compared to a regular 120 ml Magnum Classic of 261 calories.
Sales of Knorr Vie fruit and vegetable shots continued to grow, increasing by 67% with around 162 million bottles sold in Europe in 2007.
After successful test marketing in Belgium and Ireland in 2006, Frusì, our frozen yoghurt with fruit and wholegrain cereals, has been rolled out in France, Italy, the Netherlands and UK. Frusì contains no more than 110 calories per 100ml pot and just 2.4 g of fat. Each pot also provides 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.
Responsible marketing
Knorr's healthy eating campaign encourages consumers to eat colourful vegetables with the help of a range of new colour-themed products. The campaign was inspired by the insight that brightly coloured vegetables indicate the presence of different beneficial antioxidants.
At the same time we acknowledge the influence of marketing on consumers and take our responsibilities seriously. For example, people in many parts of the world have concerns about advertising food to children.
Our Food and Beverage Marketing Principles provide guidance to our managers. They specifically prohibit any advertising to children under the age of six. Marketing to children between six and 12 is only permitted if the product meets strict nutritional criteria. This principle has also enabled us to take a leading role in agreeing cross-industry voluntary commitments and pledges to restrict advertising to children in regions such as the US and Europe.
In May 2007 we also committed to use only models who have a body mass index between 18.5 and 25 in our advertising. This range is in line with United Nations guidance on what is considered healthy and precludes the use of 'size zero' models.
Online advertising and communication is a growing trend. With people everywhere being able to access online material, our new internet marketing guidelines ensure that campaigns aimed at a particular market are sensitive to cultural differences in other parts of the world.
