A new report from the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) shows that more companies are engaging with their communities on health topics.
The group's annual Health & Wellness Pillar Progress Report highlights that last year there was a 26% rise in participation in health-related programmes among CGF members, which includes companies such as Ahold Delhaize, Campbell's, Carrefour, Coca-Cola, Danone, Ferrero, General Mills, Henkel, ICA, Kellogg's, M&S, Mars, Metro, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo, P&G, Rewe, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Unilever, and Walmart.
Of the 83 consumer goods companies surveyed, 85% say that they have formed partnerships with community stakeholders, 58% have participated in food bank programmes, and, in total, over 1.6 million employees have participated in health and wellness programmes.
Health Initiatives
CGF's 'Collaboration for Healthier Lives' initiative has aimed to push the issue of community health programmes and working with local public health authorities into the corporate agenda.
Last year, initiatives took place in Colombia, Japan and the US, and more are set to be rolled-out this year in Costa Rica, Mexico and the UK.
These include distributing educational material in stores and local institutions, promoting the benefits of healthier choices and exercise, and product reformulation.
Some 88% of companies said they had introduced products that had been reformulated to support healthier diets, while there was a 12% rise in companies cutting salt and sugar in their products.
The CGF board co-sponsors – Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, and Dick Boer, Ahold Delhaize president and CEO – wrote in the foreword to the report that their ambition to 'empower consumers to lead healthier lives is an important long-term objective that requires sustained effort.'
'We are helping to improve the health of the communities we serve, but we know that there is so much more we can do together. Building upon our initial five-year plan from 2013, we now intend to strengthen our leadership in this area for the next five years and beyond.'
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
