Danone Ireland announces ambitious new health commitments
Research shows health is the most important consideration for over half of Irish consumers (51%)
Print2 March 2023
Danone, the health-focused food and beverage company, has today announced new health commitments for its dairy, plant-based and water categories in Ireland.
These include a commitment that at least 90%* of its product portfolio by sales volume will not be high in sugar, salt or fat (HFSS) as defined by current UK policy and legislation and referred to by relevant authorities* in Ireland. Using this definition, Danone Ireland has also committed that it will never produce a product high in sugar, salt, or fat (HFSS).
The company has also committed that at least 90% of its portfolio will be rated as “healthy” – receiving a score of at least 3.5 stars out of 5 – within the Health Star Rating Index. The Health Star Rating Index is a rating system which rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged food, and provides a quick, easy, standard way to compare foods.
The announcement comes at a time when health is the most important consideration for over half of Irish consumers (51%), with 62% agreeing they are eating more healthily than they have in the past. Consumers are also concerned with the sugar and fat content in products, regularly or occasionally buying these low or no sugar options (80%) or low-fat options (75%)**.
As part of the commitments, Danone Ireland has also confirmed its intention to implement clear, consistent front-of-pack nutritional labelling. It will transparently publish nutritional data for its portfolio, using the Health Star Rating Index system and UK Government’s HFSS guidelines (which are referred to by relevant authorities in Ireland) as benchmarks – alongside product nutritional information – on its website. It will also confirm ongoing compliance with its own commitments.
“I’m proud to announce these commitments which align with our mission at Danone to bring health through food to as many people as possible,” said Killian Barry, managing director of Danone Ireland.
“With these commitments, we are setting out our ambition as a purposeful business, to help improve the health of the nation,” he added. “At a time when both obesity and malnutrition are major concerns in Ireland, we believe this is the right thing to do.”
As part of its ongoing commitment to health, Danone is already working with several like-minded partners including retailers and NGOs, and will continue to promote the importance of healthy, sustainable diets across industry in Ireland and beyond.
These commitments are the new minimum threshold to which Danone Ireland’s consumer brands in its dairy, plant-based and water categories, including Alpro, Activia, Light & Free, Actimel, Volvic and evian, will be held.
*(Source: Percentage calculated on one year of sales (Oct 2021-Sept-22). The number includes the recipes reformulated in September 2022, combined with sales for a year. This means that SKUs reformulated to be non HFSS within the period (Oct 2021-Sept 22) has been captured in the % non HFSS. The number assumes that post-reformulation sales remain at same levels and that mix for total portfolio also remains the same)
**(Source: Latest Kantar TGI Irish Consumer Data, October 2022)
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