Mars reformulating products to cut salt

The Mars Food Nutrition Criteria guides their approach to provide healthier food and meet Health & Wellbeing commitments. It includes limits for added sugar, salt, and fat content in all products, as well as targets for the inclusion of vegetables, fiber and legumes.

The criteria are ambitious - to adopt the strictest and most widely agreed upon nutrition recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other leading public health authorities.

Against a commitment to reduce sodium across the portfolio by 5%, in Europe the company has achieved a 4% reduction from 2019 to 2023. This reduction applied to ready-to-heat rice, ready meals and sauces across popular brands like Ben's Original, Ebly, Miracoli and Dolmio.

Delivered in steps to support consumer acceptance of the lower sodium recipes, the reduction was also delivered with rebalanced recipes when it came to vegetables, herbs, and spices to deliver tasty products that consumers would love. Within this overall reduction is a 22% reduction in ready meal and meal centre products and an 8% reduction in ready to heat rice range, including removing all sodium from plain ready to heat rice products. These reductions are on top of an already extensive sodium reduction programme in previous years.

Following the significant salt reduction achieved in the UK market as part of Mars' Commitment under the Responsibility Deal, whereby all products in the UK market were compliant with the 2012 FSA targets, as well as in the French (PNNS) and Swiss markets (Action Santé), the Mars Food segment is doubling down on its commitment to responsible salt/sodium content of its European portfolio.

After multiple years of reformulation efforts, the focus is now on expanding the salt reduction targets across all the new development briefs covering all the categories of Mars' food portfolio.

These efforts will help reduce the salt intake of the European consumer and will consequently reduce the risk of the diseases linked to high blood pressure.