Mars Warns Consumers With Labels on High Sugar Sauces to be Only Eaten Once a Week

18 Apr 2016 --- Mars Food have announced a new global Health and Wellbeing Ambition to create and promote healthier food choices and to encourage consumers to cook and share healthier meals with others. “Everyday” and “occasional” meals will also be reformulated to incorporate reduced sodium and sugar levels.

The Health and Wellbeing 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 Mars Food Associates opportunities to improve wellbeing through nutrition education, cooking facilities, and healthier food options. Through these initiatives, Mars Food will encourage families to share one billion more healthy meals at dinner tables around the world.

"At Mars Food, we’re committed to helping people cook and eat healthier meals. This begins with being fully transparent to our consumers – both about what goes into our products and about how they should be eaten," Fiona Dawson, global president of Mars Food, told FoodIngredientsFirst.

"As part of our Health and Wellbeing Ambition, we are reformulating our products so that they meet our Nutrition Criteria – which is based off of the strictest nutrition guidance from the World Health Organization. We recognize, however, that a select few of our products, such as pesto, will not be able to meet this criteria due to the authentic nature of the recipe. To be transparent about the nutrient levels in these products, we will be labelling them as “occasional” and providing guidance to consumers about how often they should be eaten," says Dawson.

“We’re incredibly proud and excited to share our new five year Health and Wellbeing Ambition,” says Dawson. “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,” states 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 Health and Wellbeing Ambition, Mars Food will help consumers differentiate and choose between “everyday” and “occasional” options. To maintain the authentic nature of the recipe, some Mars Food products are higher in salt, added sugar or fat. As these products are not intended to be eaten daily, Mars Food 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 Mars Food 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, Mars Food 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, Mars Food will reduce sodium by an average of 20 percent by 2021 and reduce added sugar in a limited number of sauces and light meals by 2018. Additionally, Mars Food will significantly expand multi-grain options so that half of all rice products include whole grains and/or legumes. Mars Food 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, Mars Food supports government efforts, such as those of the UK Food Standards Agency/Department of Health and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (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 reduce sodium intake,” says Dawson. “We support release of the U.S. 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.”

Mars Food is dedicated to inspiring people to cook healthy meals at home with friends and family. Multiple studies have demonstrated that families who cook and eat together are healthier and happier. Through leading brands such as UNCLE BEN’S, MASTERFOODS and DOLMIO, Mars Food hopes to build awareness about the value of shared meals and help consumers practice healthy cooking at home. Mars Food is also aware of how powerful on-pack recipes can be in influencing healthy cooking. All of Mars Food’s everyday meal recipes on packaging and online will meet the Mars Food Nutrition Criteria and encourage the consumption of more vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.

Mars Food 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 wellbeing, and we believe our brands should inspire our consumers to come together over a healthy meal,” says 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. Mars Food is committed to helping families and individuals create healthier lifestyles while maintaining affordability.

The consumer group Sustain's Children's Food Campaign, which recently argued successfully for a tax on sugary drinks reacted with disappointment to Mars Food's announcement on its plans around labelling and promotion.

While welcoming the recognition that manufacturers need to make much greater strides with reformulation and nutrition labelling than they have done so far, Malcolm Clark, of Sustain's Children's Food Campaign, was skeptical about the proposals:

“Mars’s commitments contain the usual weaknesses of a voluntary approach,” he said. “There are few quantifiable targets, reformulation is only suggested for certain products, there is seemingly no connection with Public Health England’s new Eatwell Guidance, and no mention at all of changing their marketing and promotions.”

“There is also a gaping hole where the Government’s obesity strategy should be. The sooner it is published, and provides a level playing field of mandatory rules on reformulation and marketing for all companies and products, the better for everyone.”

A “treatwise” symbol and message has been added onto confectionery for over a decade, but Clark pointed out it that it has had little effect on consumer behavior. “We will have to see whether adding ‘everyday’ or ‘occasional use’ makes any difference on sauces and other cooking products. The danger is that it will just further confuse shoppers. Better would have been for Mars Food to have made a categorical statement in support of the color-coded front-of-pack nutrition labelling system and encourage other manufacturers to put it on all of their products.”

by Elizabeth Kenward