Nestlé is ranked first in the 2018 Access to Nutrition Index (ATNI) released today for its overall performance in its nutrition-related commitments. This confirms Nestlé’s leadership in nutrition, health, and wellness as well as our contribution to tackling the global challenges of obesity and undernutrition.
Nestlé tops the 2018 Index, with above average performance in all, and improvements in most, of the categories of the Index. Meanwhile, FrieslandCampina, a Dutch dairy cooperative, has improved the most since 2016, climbing four places in the ranking largely thanks to a new strategy, new initiatives to tackle undernutrition and more responsible marketing commitments. Nine companies scored 5 or more, compared to only 2 in 2016; and the average score overall went up from 2.5 to 3.3 out of 10, but remains quite low.
This year, Danone tops the BMS Marketing sub-ranking with a score of 46% – considerably better than the 31% it scored in 2016. Nestlé ranks second with a score of 45%, while Abbott ranks third, having substantially improved its score to 34% from 7%. However, all companies need to expand the scope of their marketing policies to encompass all formulas made for children up to 3 years of age and to apply their policies in developing countries as well as developed ones.
ATNI said that Nestlé’s “overall nutrition governance and management systems are comprehensive, well-structured, transparent and applied globally with a clear accountability structure”.
The index highlights Nestlé’s global Board-approved nutrition strategy, including a comprehensive set of nutrition-related targets that are directly linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.
ATNI 2018 assesses the contribution of 22 food and beverage companies to address global nutrition challenges across seven categories: governance, products, accessibility, marketing, lifestyles, labeling, and engagement.
“Nestlé embarked on this journey many years ago, and the recent announcement of its Nestlé for Healthier Kids initiative is another key milestone. The program includes the further development of healthier products and advice for families on nutrition and exercise. It aims at helping 50 million children lead healthier lives by 2030. We will continue to pursue our commitments and take a leading role in nutrition and health,” he continued.
Nestlé aims to continue leveraging its industry-leading innovation capability to improve its food and beverage portfolio worldwide. In 2017, we delivered 174 billion servings of fortified foods and beverages in 66 countries with higher vulnerability to micronutrient malnutrition.
Additionally, by 2020 Nestlé aims to:
- Further, reduce sugars by 5%. Since 2000, the company has reduced sugars by over 34%;
- Further, reduce salt by 10%. Since 2005, the company has reduced salt by over 20%;
- Complete the commitment taken in 2014, to reduce saturated fats by 10% in all relevant products that do not meet WHO recommendations.
The 22 food and beverage companies included in the 2018 Index generate an estimated $500 billion in annual sales in over 200 countries and their products play a significant and increasing role in the diets of millions of people. The Indexes are designed to measure whether manufacturers are being responsible in the way they
make, sell and market their products to address the global nutrition crisis, which sees one-in-three people either overweight or undernourished and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
ATNI was developed as an independent benchmarking tool for use by investors, health advocates, and companies, and is collated using information in the public domain and supplied by companies themselves.
Recommendations
The 2018 Index report calls on companies to, first and foremost, work to improve the nutritional quality of their existing products, particularly established, high-sales volume products. It also calls on companies’ to:
- Ensure senior executives and boards take more responsibility for spearheading a strategic response to delivering better nutrition as part of core business strategy
- Set measurable, independently verifiable nutrition targets, for example, to reduce levels of salt and sugar in their products
- Widen their product ranges to include more healthy products that are affordable and accessible to all consumers
- Develop commercial strategies for tackling undernutrition by investing in healthy products that address existing deficiencies in priority countries
- Commit to display easy-to-interpret information for consumers on front-of-pack labels about the healthiness of products, regardless of where they live
- Stop on- and offline marketing of products to children that do not meet the standards set by the World Health Organization
- Baby milk manufacturers must ensure their marketing policies align fully with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, are applied fully and consistently around the world and to all products including growing-up milk
A full set of recommendations is available in the report.