Reducing sugar, sodium and fats

Diets with lower sugar, sodium and saturated fat are usually healthier – and we want to make it easier for families to choose the healthier options.

Why it matters

Overconsumption of sugars, sodium and saturated fat can contribute to dietary and health problems, and to increases in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Reducing consumption of these nutrients can contribute to improving public health, so we are undertaking complex reformulations of our foods and beverages to be part of the solution. We do this carefully, ensuring that these changes don’t affect the taste or texture of our products, which may cause consumers to switch to less healthy alternatives.

Our approach

To have the biggest impact, we identify and focus on the foods and beverages that contribute most to people’s nutrient intake. We make changes holistically – we won’t replace one nutrient of concern with another, we won’t compromise on taste and we’re open about the challenges as well as the improvements. We are also exploring exciting new technologies that improve nutrient profiles without compromising on taste.

 

 

 

What we are doing

We are launching innovations such as new sugars structures to ensure we get as close as possible to our commitment targets. We remain committed to further decreasing levels of sugars, sodium and saturated fat gradually, while maintaining taste.

In 2005, we drafted the Nestlé Policy on Sodium to reduce and monitor the percentage of sodium in our food and beverages. In 2017, we have renewed our Policy on Sodium to help consumers achieve the WHO recommended intake levels of no more than 2000 mg of sodium (equivalent to 5 g of salt) per person, per day by 2025. With this target being Nestlé's longer term goal, our policy goal is to further reduce sodium by an average of at least 10% by the end of 2020, in all foods and beverages not yet aligned with our former sodium targets.

Since the establishment of the Nestlé Policy on Sugars in 2007, we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of sugars in our products, especially those developed for children. In 2017, we have renewed our Policy on Sugars to help consumers achieve the recommended intake as per the globally recognized dietary guidelines. Our policy goal is to further reduce the sugars we add in our products by an average of at least 5% over four years (2017–2020) to support individuals and families in meeting global recommendations.

Our Nestlé Policy on Trans-fat, instituted in 1999 and further strengthened in 2003, was developed to remove trans-fat originating from partially hydrogenated oils from all our food and beverage products. In India, we have replaced hydrogenated fat in MAGGI with refined oil, resulting in zero tans fat and zero cholesterol in the products. By 2020, complete the 10% commitment taken in 2014, to reduce saturated fat by 10% in all relevant products that do not meet the Nestlé Nutritional Foundation (NF) criteria with respect to saturated fat.

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