As a food producer, we know that food is much more than simply taking in nutrients or selling food and drink products: by promoting a balanced diet, we aim to improve the quality of life and well-being of as many people as we can. We’ve been pursuing this goal for some time. Our Nutrition Commitments 2020 were first published in 2016. They applied to our operations worldwide in the categories of dairy products, plant-based alternatives, water and soft drinks and products for people with special dietary requirements. This means the reformulation of products is nothing new to us and has actually been a key element of our continual product development for many years.
Lots of small steps instead of radical changes in recipes
However, having best nutritional values counts for nothing if consumers ultimately don’t like the product. In our experience, they often don’t like ‘big steps’ when it comes to cutting sugar and fat. For example, consumers were not receptive towards a sugar-free Actimel product launched in 2012.
Cutting sugar and fat in several small steps is a much better approach: for FruchtZwergen, it has taken 10 steps in total over the years. We are pursuing the path towards more balanced nutritional profiles, with less added sugar and fat, in our products step by step. In our view, ingredients like sugar and fat clearly have to be reduced voluntarily based on scientific targets.
Examples:
Since the launch of FruchtZwerge in 1981, the sugar content has been cut by 37% to date, fat content by over 68% and the calorific value by more than 44% compared with the original recipe.
The sugar content of Activia yoghurt has been reduced by 17% between 2015 and the present.
Between 2014 and 2019, we achieved an 18.6% reduction in sugar content across the entire Alpro range.
In soft drinks, we set ourselves the target of providing products that contain less sugar than traditional ones. Since 2020, none of our products has contained over 5 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres.
We’re also bringing our infant food products into line with the latest scientific recommendations. Over recent years, we’ve continually updated our range of semi-liquid and cereal products for babies and small children – most don’t contain any added sugar now. We’re continuing our efforts to cut overall sugar content.
We’re now going a step further. We believe the sugar content in foods for children should be cut. We’ve set ourselves the goal of ensuring that by 2025 at least 95% of our dairy products and plant-based alternatives aimed at children (aged 3 to 12) contain a maximum of 10 g in total sugar per 100 g of product.
*Naturally contains sugar