Mars Food, recently announced a new global ‘Health and Wellbeing Ambition’ to create and promote healthier food choices and encourage consumers to cook and share healthier meals with others.
The ambition will roll out over the next five years and will focus on five main areas: improving nutritional content; providing consumers with more nutrition information to help them make more balanced choices; inspiring consumers to cook and eat healthy meals with friends and family; exploring new formats and opportunities to offer products in more places at affordable prices; and providing the company’s associates opportunities to improve wellbeing through nutrition education, cooking facilities, and healthier food options. Through these initiatives, the company will encourage families to share one billion more healthy meals at dinner tables around the world.
“We’re incredibly proud and excited to share our new five-year Health and Wellbeing Ambition,” said Fiona Dawson, global president, Mars Food, Drinks, and Multisales.
“This ambition advances our purpose of creating Better Food Today and A Better World Tomorrow. As a busy mum myself, I know how tricky it can be to find healthy meals which everyone in the family will enjoy, and of course, they often need to be quick and easy to prepare.”
“I’m delighted that Mars Food is helping to provide healthy solutions through our famous brands,” stated Dawson. “Our Nutrition Criteria sets a very high standard for our products, and we also want to help our consumers understand the difference between ‘everyday’ and ‘occasional’ products within a balanced diet.”
Through the ambition, the company will help consumers to differentiate and choose between “everyday” and “occasional” options. To maintain the authentic nature of the recipe, some products are higher in salt, added sugar or fat. As these products are not intended to be eaten daily, the company will provide guidance to consumers on-pack and on its website regarding how often these meal offerings should be consumed within a balanced diet.
The company website will be updated within the next few months with a list of “occasional” products – those to be enjoyed once per week – and a list of “everyday” products – including those to be reformulated over the next five years to reduce sodium, sugar, or fat.
In addition, the company will improve its nutritional product composition through the reduction of added sugar and sodium and the addition of vegetables and whole grains across its global product portfolio. This builds upon the Mars Food Nutrition Criteria, which was developed based on recommendations from leading public health authorities such as the World Health Organization.
To align the global product portfolio with this criteria, the company will reduce sodium by an average of 20 per cent by 2021 and reduce added sugar in a limited number of sauces and light meals by 2018. Additionally, the company will significantly expand multi-grain options so that half of all rice products include whole grains and/or legumes. The company will also ensure all tomato-based jar products include a minimum of one serving of vegetables.
To help consumers shift taste preferences to lower sodium foods and improve overall health, it supports government efforts, such as those of the UK Food Standards Agency/Department of Health and the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA), to give guidance to industry on sodium reduction in foods.
“The food industry has already made great strides in reducing sodium, but we have more work to do to help consumers to reduce sodium intake,” said Dawson. “We support release of the US FDA’s draft sodium reduction guidance, because we believe it’s important to begin a stakeholder dialogue about the role industry can play in this critical part of consumers’ diets.”
The company plans to foster nutritious cooking and eating practices among associates by providing access to worksite kitchens, fitness facilities, nutrition education and healthy, affordable meals in cafeterias. All associates will have the opportunity to learn how to cook convenient, affordable and nutritious recipes that they can share with one another and their families to instill a culture of healthy cooking and eating.
“Cooking and eating healthy meals at home is central to health and well-being, and we believe our brands should inspire our consumers to come together over a healthy meal,” said Dawson. “Mars Food will practice what we preach by starting with our own associates and helping them make informed, healthier food choices and cook meals together at our sites.”
A central component to the ambition is the reformulation of current products and the development of new products that provide enhanced nutrition at reasonable prices.
The company’s ambition will be incorporated across a global portfolio of brands including but not limited to Uncle Ben’s, Masterfoods, and Dolmio in an effort to inspire consumers around the world to cook and eat healthier, together.
