Dannon, Del Monte and Kwik Trip Join Partnership for a Healthier America to Offer Healthier Choices
On Day Two of PHA’s annual Summit, three groups announce new commitments aimed at ending the childhood obesity epidemic
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 14, 2014) – Today, during the second day of the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA)’s Building a Healthier Future Summit, Dannon, Del Monte and Kwik Trip announced new commitments to make healthier choices more accessible and affordable for busy parents and families. PHA, which is hosting the summit, works with the private sector and PHA honorary chair First Lady Michelle Obama to solve the nation’s childhood obesity crisis.
“Innovation has always proven critical when exploring solutions to our nation’s health, and the commitments made by Dannon, Del Monte and Kwik Trip are examples of how the private sector can transform and innovate to address the needs of society,” said Larry Soler, President and CEO of Partnership for a Healthier America. “Each year we are getting closer to our goal to build a healthier nation and solve the childhood obesity crisis. And that is because of the leadership from organizations such as Dannon, Del Monte and Kwik Trip, as well as Sodexo, Nutri Ventures, Knowledge Universe, FirstBIKE, UnityPoint Health-Trinity, Eskenazi Health, Meridian and St. Luke’s Hospital, which announced their commitments yesterday.”
Dannon, the nation’s leading producer of yogurt, committed to improving nutrient density and reducing sugar and fat in its yogurt products. Dannon will also invest in education and research focused on healthy eating habits.
Del Monte Foods, Inc., one of the country’s largest producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food products for the U.S. retail market, committed to improving the nutrient density of what it sells through marketing and new product innovation. It also is donating more fruit and vegetable products to anti-hunger efforts.
Kwik Trip, a family-owned business that runs more than 400 convenience stores and other outlets in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, committed to improving healthier food access and implementing a new EATSmart program and other policies that promote healthy habits among consumers. Kwik Trip will also start a Healthy Concessions Program that allows organizations to purchase healthier items at discounted prices to use in their fundraising efforts.
Specifically Dannon is making the following commitments:
Improve by 10 percent the nutrient density of its overall portfolio of products including all fresh dairy products marketed under Dannon, Danimals, Danonino, Oikos, Activia, Light & Fit and DanActive by June 2016.
Reformulate products so that, by June 2016, 70 percent of the volume of products and 100 percent of the volume of products intended for children will contain less than 23 grams of total sugar per 6 ounces.
Reformulate products so that, by June 2016, 75 percent of the volume of products will meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition of “fat free” or “low in fat.”
Invest $3,000,000 for education and research focused on healthy eating habits including the sponsorship of scientific symposia on nutrition and probiotics, education programs for Health Care Providers and/or consumers on the benefits of low fat and fat free yogurt and research grants and scientific partnerships with universities dedicated to nutrition research.
Specifically Del Monte is making the following commitments:
Improve by 15 percent of the Nutrition Rich Food Index weighted average score of the overall portfolio of Del Monte Brand products by July 2019.
Devote $5 million in 2014, $6 million in 2015 and $7 million in 2016 to execute marketing campaigns and promotions that encourage families and children to eat healthier. Tactics will include distributing coupons for foods that meet certain healthy guidelines and including nutrition information on its website.
By October 2016, at least 90 percent of canned fruit products that demonstrate the saved caloric content when the packing medium (e.g. syrup) is drained.
Reformulate packaging so that 80 percent of new labels with recipes on the packaging will meet healthier recipe guidelines.
Donate in each calendar year of 2014, 2015 and 2016 a minimum of 2.5 million pounds of fruit and vegetable products to support anti-hunger efforts across the U.S.
Specifically Kwik Trip is making the following commitments:
Offer four categories of fruit, four categories of vegetables, six whole grain products and four non-fat or low-fat dairy products. All of these foods will be priced less than Kwik Trip’s regional average price to increase the affordability of such healthyproducts for customers.
Promote at least two EATSmart combination meals that meet specific nutrient and affordability criteria.
Encourage healthy behaviors among both consumers and employees by labeling all EATSmart items and fountain beverage machines with their caloric content information, offer a free piece of daily fruit to all working employees and provide bicycle racks at every new store built.
Offer organizations healthier food and beverage items for their local fundraising events through the new Healthy Concessions Program, which provides discounted prices on items that contain less than 500 calories, less than 10 percent calories from saturated fat and less than 600 mg of sodium per serving.
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation’s youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation’s most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.