Food and nutrition

We aim to provide foods which both taste great and are good for you, and, in so doing, become the world's leading food and nutrition business.

To fulfil our goal, we are systematically improving the nutritional profile of our product range through our Nutrition Enhancement Programme. By the end of 2007 we had assessed the nutritional composition of all our products – totalling over 22 000 recipes – and removed a further 2 750 tonnes of saturated fat, 170 tonnes of salt and 5 000 tonnes of sugar. This is in addition to the substantial reductions already made by 2006.

We are also committed to ensuring that consumers are able to make informed choices when buying our products. As well as listing nutritional information on the back of packaging, we are implementing the Choices programme, with a front-of-pack stamp that identifies products which meet internationally accepted dietary advice. In 2007 we continued rolling the programme out globally together with other food companies, under the auspices of the Choices International Foundation. This was launched during 2007 and is advised by an independent scientific committee. The stamp can now be found on products in more than 50 countries around the world. See www.choicesinternational.org for more information.

We focus on three key areas of consumer benefit when developing new products: functional foods, lighter options, and naturalness and authenticity. For example, in 2007 we developed Promise Activ SuperShots, a Vitality shot with added natural plant sterols, ingredients that are clinically proven to help actively remove cholesterol as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Meanwhile, Hellmann's Extra Light uses citrus fibre to create a great tasting, very low-fat mayonnaise. Because of its low-fat content the product has a higher margin – particularly valuable at a time of increasing edible oil costs.

Lipton Green Tea in the US, Lipton Linea slimming teas in Europe, and Lipton Milk Teas in Asia all flourished by exploiting tea's credentials as a healthy beverage. And a new range of restaurant-quality frozen meals from Bertolli, which are packed with fresh vegetables and ready to eat in minutes, was a hit with North American consumers.