A New Method to Monitor the Nutritional Quality of Packaged Foods in the Global Food Supply in Order to Provide Feasible Targets for Reformulation

Abstract

Nutrient profiling systems, initially designed to promote healthy food choices at the point of sale, can also provide the scientific basis for innovation and product reformulation by the food industry. This work presents a new profiling system to help define feasible nutrient targets for reformulation of packaged foods. The focus is on five key nutrients for which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set population-level goals: sugar, saturated fat, sodium, fiber, and protein. The methodology uses Mintel’s Global New Products Database of packaged foods to (1) identify nutrients relevant to each food category (2) sort products into sub-categories defined by a unique nutritional signature, and (3) develop standards for “best of class” products. For instance, if targeted to be amongst the best 15% of the global food supply, pizza must have less than 4.0 g/100 g saturated fat, less than 520 mg/100 g total sodium and more than 9.8 g/100 g protein. Fiber and sugar are not identified as relevant nutrients for the pizza category and no targets are provided.