Reformulation

SPAR Austria is working with the Austrian Medical Association, the Austrian Obesity Society, and other various organisations and industry players to promote the removal of excess sugar from products and to encourage all sectors of society to act in favour of a sugar-reduced diet. SPAR Austria has successfully reduced the amount of sugar in SPAR Own Brand products by 4.530 tonnes between 2017 and the end of 2024.

By offering a growing range of reformulated, ultra-fresh and organic oriented products, METRO is helping its customer in the restaurant sector to have a positive influence on the health of their own customers. In the financial year 2019/20, METRO countries reformulated 88 products towards less salt and 51 towards less sugar. Reformulation also means “clean” products, e.g. without undesirable additives. This way, METRO’s professional customers can offer healthier dishes and thus meet the trend towards more conscious consumption -also when eating out.

In its continuing quest to make healthy eating simpler, Albert Heijn aims to remove the equivalent of 1 billion sugar cubes from its products and is helping customers make better choices with an in-store “sugar guide.” And now it has launched a new label providing better insight into added sugar in its own-brand products and started discussions with the Diabetes Fund and food industry partners to accelerate sugar reduction. Albert Heijn has gradually removed a great deal of sugar from its own-brand products in recent years, testing the results with customers along the way. In 2019, Albert Heijn had already taken out more than 300 million sugar cubes from its products.

The Spanish retailer relies on recognised experts in the field of nutrition who advise and guide with the aim of offering consumers product improvements with rigor and a scientific basis. The company also works towards introducing significant improvements in nutritional matters whenever possible while offering customers the most competitive price. In this context, and after joining the Collaboration Plan for the Improvement of Food and Beverages prepared by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) in 2018, the company and its suppliers have worked throughout the year with the aim of reducing the saturated fat, salt and sugar content in more than 300 of Mercadona Brand products.

The plant ball, with a climate footprint of only 4% of the ingredients of the classic meatball, has been created with one main purpose – to recreate the meatball without meat. With ingredients like pea protein, oats, apples, and potatoes IKEA has worked hard to recreate this well-known classic IKEA product to be a more sustainable option for the many without compromising on the taste and the texture. IKEA sells more than one billion meatballs every year. If the retailer were to convert about 20% of meatball sales to plant balls that would mean around 8% of the climate footprint of the IKEA food business.

Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly popular across Europe, as consumers are making more sustainability-conscious and health-driven decisions. Plant proteins are a key nutritional building block in Herbalife Nutrition meal replacements and protein shakes, and the company sees plant proteins playing a major role in feeding the world’s growing population in the coming decades. In 2018-19, for instance, Herbalife Nutrition sold 16 million units of shakes: 60% of these were for EU countries, and in total 90% of these were made with soy protein whilst 10% with pea protein. As a global nutrition company, Herbalife Nutrition is committed to positively reducing the environmental impact of our food systems, improving people’s health and meeting consumers’ dietary and cultural preferences.

EDEKA is continuously reducing sugar and salt content in its own-brand products, committing to a balanced diet and contributing to a healthier and more active lifestyle. In the last three years alone, the retailer has reduced the salt and / or sugar content of over 150 products in the beverage, basic food, canned, dairy and frozen product ranges. To lay the foundation for a healthy lifestyle, the EDEKA Foundation has been campaigning for 10 years to strengthen the nutritional skills of children and young people. EDEKA also partners with the Olympia Team Germany to strengthen the connection between diet and exercise.

At Jerónimo Martins, our commitment as a food expert goes beyond offering quality, affordable products – we strive to make them safer and more nutritionally balanced to support healthier societies. To achieve this, we continuously review and reformulate our private brand and perishable products. We prioritise items that are widely consumed and those frequently chosen by children and young people, where nutritional improvements can have the greatest impact.
In 2024 alone, we reformulated 40 products in our Polish and Portuguese brands, successfully preventing 483 tonnes of sugar, 77 tonnes of fats and 47 tonnes of salt from being consumed. Our reformulation efforts also focus on reducing artificial ingredients – such as preservatives, sweeteners, thickeners, colorants and flavour enhancers – and increasing the amounts of fibres, whenever possible.
Over the past five years, our European operations have removed 5,046 tonnes of sugar, 776 tonnes of fats and 210 tonnes of salt from the market.In 2020, the reformulation of around 150 products prevented 2,468 tonnes of sugar, 212 tonnes of fat and 58 tonnes of salt from entering the market. The reformulations also seek to reduce artificial ingredients (such as preservatives) and, whenever possible, increase the amounts of fibre and fruit.”