Education & Lifestyle

We are committed to provide food options for all consumers, including those with specific dietary needs or preferences. The Group offers organic-certified products in both Private Brands and Perishables categories, reaching over 235 references in 2020 in Portugal and Poland. Our Go Vege range (products of vegetable origin and without animal protein), also available in Poland and Portugal, is suitable for vegetarian and vegan consumers. Consumers who are lactose and/or gluten intolerant can also find a wide range of food solutions in our Private Brands. In a continuous effort to broaden our value proposition, we launched 38 new gluten-free products in Poland and Portugal in 2020.

Esselunga has, in 2019, launched the “SuperFoodies” campaign featuring 24 characters. SuperFoodies is a children targeted campaign which raises awareness and educates about balanced nutrition and healthy foods. The collection includes superheroes with special powers, able to teach children to eat healthily without giving up the fun. Accompanying the collection is a guide that aims to provide consumers with simple tools that increase awareness of what they eat. Furthermore, it was possible to enroll children in educational workshops organized in numerous supermarkets of the chain, designed to bring them closer to the world of fruit and vegetables in a fun way.

À roda da alimentação is an integrated communication platform to promote healthier eating habits and lifestyles. It includes a television programme, a blog, and content on other digital platforms in a dynamic format. The chain has recently rebuilt its “À Roda da Comida” website which now includes more tips, recipes, multimedia content and areas dedicated to physical exercise, baby food and senior food sections. The brand has partnered with a wide range of guests and specialists, such as doctors, nutritionists, or personal trainers. One of the great novelties is the free online nutritionist service. The initiative reinforces the importance of sustainable food choices and the role of the brand in raising awareness.

Tesco has created Better Baskets, a campaign that aims to tackle the barriers that customers come up against when looking to fill their basket with better choices every time they shop. The campaign includes in-store Better Basket zones, clearly signposted with the Better Baskets logo, featuring products that are high in fibre, plant-based, low in calories and/or use reusable or recycled packaging. To support the campaign, chef Jamie Oliver has worked with Tesco and WWF to create new veg-packed recipes, to inspire customers.

Delhaize is reinforcing its ambition to be the most affordable supermarket in Belgium for anyone who wants to eat more healthily with a revolutionary new loyalty program that supports both a balanced diet and customers’ purchasing power. The new “Superplus Card” will give customers automatic savings of 5% to 15% on more than 5,000 products with a Nutri-Score of A or B. Delhaize is giving a clear sign to help customers develop healthier eating habits through a more balanced diet. It is one of a wide range of initiatives Ahold Delhaize brands are offering to bring to life healthy and sustainable strategy by encouraging and rewarding customers for making healthy choices.

Kaufland and Lidl initiate and support projects around the world which make children aware of making responsible food choices. Lidl is working with nutritionists to encourage children to prepare healthy dishes. Roughly 200 elementary school classes across Germany were sensitized in this way in the 2019/20 school year alone, with a total of 15,000 students over the past three years. The concept was also implemented in a similar form in Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Spain. Kaufland provides schools and day care centers throughout Europe with fresh fruit and vegetables. In Germany, more than 4,000 children in the greater Heilbronn area benefiting from a healthier, more varied diet since 2010. In Croatia 19,000 schoolchildren received a total of 94 tons of fruit and vegetables in the 2019/20 school year.

Three of the UK’s leading health charities have come together with the UK’s leading food retailer to help tackle the nation’s biggest health challenges. “Little Helps for healthier living”, brings together the skills and expertise of the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Diabetes UK and Tesco to help lower the risk of heart and circulatory disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes. The four organisations will work together to help millions of UK shoppers by removing barriers to healthier habits. The partnership will help to encourage and support sustainable, measurable changes in behaviour through a series of targeted activities and campaigns.

Sonae is committed to broadening the range of healthy products and services it has have on offer. The retailer has developed several partnerships with different entities, each with a specific focus and special labelling to promote healthy eating and improve its own-brand food range. These partnerships include: (i) Portuguese Cardiology Foundation – on products with cardiovascular benefits; (ii) Portuguese Diabetic Association – on ideal portions and products with a positive impact on glycemia; (iii) Portuguese Celiac Association – identifying gluten-free products with the association’s logo; (iv) creation of a Scientific Council of the Producers’ Club in order to promote innovative trends to farmers and (v) creation of the Producers’ Academia Club, which aims to help producers become more specialised and knowledgeable.

Mercadona, together with five important consumer confederations and associations in Spain, have developed a common platform called “Mesa de Participación” (Table of participation) which collaborates with the Spanish Agency for Consumption, Food Safety and Nutrition. Mercadona has developed a survey of more than 50 questions for consumers to learn more about trends and other factors that influence shopping, labelling and healthy lifestyle. This survey and the work of this platform, which also publishes articles and research about healthy eating, helps Mercadona learn more about consumer habits and to educate the consumer about healthy products.

Next to the reformulation of its own brand products via dedicated roadmaps, REWE Group places a focus on raising consumer awareness. During the REWE campaign #DuBistZucker („You are Sugar“) consumers were directly involved in the reformulation process. Consumers could test the „REWE Deine Wahl“ chocolate pudding in 4 different varieties (original recipe, 20% sugar reduction, 30% sugar reduction and 40% sugar reduction) and vote online, which version REWE should market. Over 4 weeks, 100.000 people voted. The result: the recipe with 30% reduction was the winner. Since May 2018 this new recipe has replaced the original classic chocolate “REWE Beste Wahl” pudding.

For over ten years, Pingo Doce has promoted products that follow the Mediterranean diet, classified as Intangible Cultural Heritage. In 2019, the book “At the Table with Pingo Doce” was launched with recipes that follow the principles of the Mediterranean diet. In 2020, this diet was the subject of a scientific conference, which explored the multiple virtues of a diet pattern that has beneficial effects on health, local production and food use efficiency. This conference was supported by the Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Porto and the Directorate-General for Health. Pingo Doce also launched the brand Juliana, starring eight tv episodes about ancestral soup.

Italian supermarket chain Esselunga has launched CheJoy, a private-label line of products created in collaboration with the Walt Disney Company. The CheJoy line is aimed at children from the age of four and has been developed to cover their nutritional needs over the whole day. The private-label selection includes a wide range of different products, such as breakfast cereals, yoghurts, fruit juices and snacks. Each product’s recipe follows Disney’s nutritional guidelines, favouring organic raw materials without using artificial colourants or flavourings. The aim of the project was to offer high-quality and exciting products to children while helping parents to provide them with balanced nutrition.

Independent retailers with a Super Supermarket Certificate offer added value in keeping the local community healthy and active. An example of SME retailers’ efforts in promoting healthy lifestyles is the unique campaign organised in collaboration with the Dutch Heart Foundation. Research by shows that up to 1.2 million Dutch people suffer from high blood pressure without being aware of the issue. Blood pressure measuring points were placed at supermarkets part of the Super Supermarket Certificate label. In addition, concrete advices are given about what consumers can do to keep their blood pressure at a healthy level. The SSK Certificate is the Dutch certification for independent SME food retailers who are both locally and socially involved.

How much would food cost if retail prices took account of the environmental impact at every stage of the supply chain? PENNY and the University of Augsburg have teamed up to address this question by calculating the “true prices” for 16 of the chain’s own-brand products, taking into account not only the “normal” costs but also factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, the consequences of overfertilisation and the amount of energy used in production. The Group have displayed a sign showing the “true price” alongside the retail price on a selection of products allowing customers to make well-informed purchases.