Kraft Foods completes voluntary trans fat reduction efforts

21/12/05 Kraft Foods Inc., a global leader in branded foods and beverages, has announced that it has successfully completed its multi-year, voluntary trans fat reduction efforts in the U.S. In addition, the company said that it will meet the January 1, 2006 U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) deadline for on-pack trans fat labeling. The new FDA rule does not require companies to reduce trans fat content. Kraft took the added steps of reducing or removing trans fat from its products, while making sure they retain their great taste. With nearly every reformulated product, not only did the company reduce trans fat content, but it also ensured that the combination of saturated fat plus trans fat did not increase compared to the original formulation.

With more than 100,000 people-hours invested by Kraft's research and development teams alone, the extensive and complex project resulted in the reformulation of a significant number of Kraft's U.S. products.

The broad, multi-disciplinary effort involved Kraft's Global Technology & Quality, Operations and Marketing teams.

As a result, seven Kraft categories undertook significant reformulation efforts across their product lines, including: Cereal, Cookies, Crackers, Pizza, Desserts, Meals, and Oscar Mayer. Brands such as Kraft(R) Easy Mac(R), DiGiorno(TM) Thin Crispy Crust Pizza, original Oreo(R) cookies, Wheat Thins(R) crackers, and Jell-O(R) Pudding Snacks will now be labeled as containing 0g trans fat per serving.

With the completion of the reformulation efforts, fewer than 2.5% of the products in Kraft's portfolio covered by the FDA rule will be required to bear labels declaring the presence of trans fat. These include products where trans fat is naturally occurring, such as cheeses, products containing meats or cheeses (e.g. pizza, lunch combinations), and products where reformulation efforts would have negatively altered the taste and quality of the product.

Kraft's approach to trans fat reformulation is global, with significant efforts under way in markets around the world.

Kraft Foods markets many of the world's leading food brands, including Kraft cheese, Maxwell House and Jacobs coffees, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Post cereals and Milka chocolates, in more than 155 countries.

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