Making the Products People Love Even Better
We’re dedicated to helping consumers make better choices at snack and meal time. And we believe we can deliver great-tasting products that fit a healthier lifestyle.
With obesity and other health issues on the rise in many European countries, we’re making meaningful changes to ease concerns. We’re reformulating our products and always looking for ways to add beneficial ingredients, like vitamins, minerals, fiber and whole grains, without sacrificing on great taste . And we’re also redesigning packaging to offer single-serve portion sizes and re-sealable options.
Since 2005, we’ve reformulated and launched more than 5,000 “better choice” products around the world to meet the needs of consumers. For example in Europe, we offer our Dairylea cheese slices in a light version. We regularly add new choices to our range as well as reformulate existing products, such Philadelphia cheese, which is available in lower fat versions: ‘Light’ and ‘Extra Light’. Our “better choice” products provide many benefits, including nutritionally meaningful levels of nutrients, such as protein, calcium, Vitamin D, fiber and whole grains.
Since 2008, we’ve been working on improving our Prince biscuit recipe to reach even better nutritional standards without changing the taste our consumers have loved for years. We decreased the biscuit’s total fat amount by 15% and reduced saturated fat by 54%. We also lowered the calorie per serving to less than 100 calories.
And we continue looking for ways to improve our products as part of our commitment to the health and wellness needs of our consumers.
Helping Consumers Reduce Sodium, Fat and Sugar
Some consumers tell us they want less of certain ingredients, like sodium, fat and sugar. So we’ve been reformulating our existing product range and developing new products to meet their needs. In fact, we’ve reduced sodium in our Dairylea cheese brand by almost 30 percent since 2002. We have introduced lower fat and light versions of many consumer favorites, including our Philadelphia and Dairylea cheeses as well as several of our Kraft dressings and spreads.
Lighter versions of some of our products
In biscuits, we’ve worked on our Belvita biscuits since 1999 to progressively increase the level of cereals and wholegrain and at the same time to decrease the amount of fat, saturated fats and sugar.
And we continually look for other, innovative ways to combine our tasty products with added goodness. For example, we created our sugar-free Trident gum and V6 dental gum brands in a variety of delicious flavors. Sugar-free gum offers many dental care benefits and dental professionals often recommend sugar-free gum as an effective aid to good oral health.
Adding More Whole Grains
In Europe, we considerably extended our biscuits with whole grains offerings over the last few years. In 2009 the number of whole grain biscuit and bread references increased by 50% compared to the previous year, to over 120 references on the European market, expanding our Belvita and LU breakfast biscuit and crisp bread lines.
To further promote the benefits of whole grains, we became a founding member in 2010 of the HEALTHGRAIN Forum , a multi-partner, pan European research program.
Encouraging Portion Control
Consumers like the convenience of foods and snacks to suit their busy lifestyles, whether eating on the run, packing a nutritionally balanced lunch for work or school, or grabbing a quick, healthy snack for the kids. And experts agree that managing portions can help people manage their calories.
We continually look for ways to help make favorite snacks and treats part of a balanced diet, while giving consumers more control over the amount they eat. So we’ve created many of our products in handy, re-sealable packaging, single-serve portion sizes and calorie-counted pack options. A few examples include our:
• Cadbury Highlights, a low-calorie drinking chocolate, with only 40 calories and less than 1% fat per serving
• Philadelphia cheese mini tubs, which offer a single portion of cream cheese in several popular varieties.
• Fruit&Fit biscuits in Iberia, which come in handy two-biscuit packs for a convenient healthy snack option. Each biscuit is only 49 calories and contains 30 percent real fruit.