Improve product health & nutrition by achieving 85% compliance with Kraft Heinz Global Nutrition Targets by 2025.
72%
Reduce total sugar in our products by more than 60 million pounds across our global portfolio by 2025.
95%
Reduce sodium by an additional 5% in our BBQ Sauce and Kraft Salad Dressings in North America by 2025.
0%
Improve use and transparency of simpler ingredients by 2025.
Increase our plant-based offerings.
Product Health
Global Nutrition Guidelines
The Kraft Heinz Global Nutrition Guidelines are category-specific and set maximum levels for main nutrients of public health concern: total sugars, sodium, saturated fat, and calories. The nutrition targets consider the dietary role of the product as outlined in dietary guidelines (USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, Australian Dietary Guidelines 2013, Sante Public France, 2019) and take into account product characteristics as well as technological and safety constraints. They are the foundation we use to develop new products and improve the nutritional value of our current portfolio. We remain committed to increasing positive nutrients and plant-based offerings.
Progress on Healthy Living Goals
Compliance* with Kraft Heinz’s nutrition targets increased from 67.7 percent in 2021 to 71.8 percent in 2022. We are pleased with our progress on this goal and have developed roadmaps that are embedded into our business strategy. Further, we have internal incentives in place to drive progress and have strong governance mechanisms (See our internal governance structure) in place to ensure we reach our goal of 85 percent compliance by 2025. This increase was driven by the evolution of our global portfolio towards healthier options and the introduction of nutritious new products.
In 2022, we continued our efforts to improve the quality of data and transparency within regions that had not previously been measured. Expanded assessed regions included Poland, Turkey, Egypt and several countries in Latin America. Our data is now representative of approximately 92 percent of our overall scope for this goal.
Further to our nutrition targets, we successfully reduced approximately 47 million pounds of total sugar across our portfolio in 2022 and are now 95 percent toward our goal of reducing 60 million pounds of total sugar across our global portfolio by 2025. This reduction was primarily driven by our Capri Sun (see below) and Kool Aid Jammers sugar reduction strategy but we also continue to make significant sugar reductions globally such as across our ABC brand in sauce and juice categories. For example, we reduced sugar by 10 percent in our SOTO sweet soy sauce, which led to a reduction of 270,000 pounds of sugar in 2022. We are still working hard toward implementing sugar reduction products throughout our portfolio and will be developing new goals in the next few years.
In 2022, we initiated development on BBQ Sauce and Kraft Salad Dressing recipes for our North America sodium reduction goal with plans to implement in 2024 and 2025. We are actively working on renovating our products and are confident that we will achieve our 5 percent sodium reduction goal. Globally, we made some significant strides in sodium reduction such as in our Quero brand sauce and vegetables categories in Latin America (see below for more details).
As we look to the future, we have roadmaps in place to improve the nutrition across our core brands such as Kraft, Heinz, Classico, and across key product categories including a major sodium reduction strategy across soy sauce offerings in China. As we continue on our global nutrition transformation, we will continue reducing sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and calories across our portfolio. Our nutrition priorities in the coming years are to continue reducing nutrients of public health concern and gradually increase positive nutrients (fiber, minerals and vitamins) while addressing consumer preferences related to taste and texture.
* Inclusive of all countries with measurable data where Kraft Heinz operates. Kraft Heinz Foodservice, Kraft Heinz Ingredients and infant/toddler categories are not included in the overall metric. Kraft Heinz Foodservice and Kraft Heinz Ingredients items do not have specific nutrition targets and infant/toddler product targets are based on local guidelines.
Innovating our Portfolio
At Kraft Heinz, we are continuously innovating to deliver consistent quality products to respond to and anticipate the needs of our consumers. We engage with partners to develop new products that reflect modern tastes, leading trends, and evolving consumer preferences.
Partnerships
Kraft Heinz also strives to be at the forefront of ingredient and nutrition innovation and collaborates extensively with academia and other stakeholders to discover novel ingredients and products.
For example, Kraft Heinz partnered with scientists at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University to create a micro-encapsulated enzyme product that can convert sugar to healthy fiber in the human gut. This enzyme has been engineered to only activate when it encounters a rise in pH, such as that which occurs in the transition from the human stomach to intestines. Crucially, this product can be incorporated into existing food recipes without modifying their sugar content but reduces the amount of sugar absorbed into the bloodstream, thus producing gut-healthy prebiotic fiber. The team is currently extensively testing the enzyme with the hope to launch a startup company to offer the product for sale to food producers.
The NotCompany Partnership – Not your average joint venture
The Kraft Heinz Not Company – “Not your average” joint venture. In early 2022, we entered an exciting joint venture with The Not Company (NotCo) to reimagine global food production. The joint venture will leverage the inherent strengths of both companies. NotCo brings its patented, first-of-its-kind technology and proven artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, while Kraft Heinz offers its iconic brand portfolio and scale, to develop delicious plant-based versions of Kraft Heinz beloved products at a level of speed, taste, quality, and scale yet to be seen in the industry. Both Kraft Heinz and NotCo share a desire to change the world for the better and believe that working together they will accelerate adoption of plant-based foods. While interest in plant-based foods is surging, barriers in taste, variety, and availability remain. Utilizing NotCo AI technology and an agile approach to innovation, The Kraft Heinz Not Company has made significant progress in addressing these consumer needs, developing plant-based replicas for animal products with plant-based ingredients that don’t sacrifice taste, functionality, or the eating experience.
“The joint venture is a critical step in the transformation of our product portfolio and a tremendous addition to our brand design-to-value capabilities ... we look forward to bringing delicious plant-based products that can be enjoyed by all in the future.”
– Miguel Patricio, CEO Kraft Heinz
Plant-based Products
At Kraft Heinz, We are consumer obsessed! We have listened very closely to conscious consumers who have been interested in more plant-based options to add to their cart. As such, we have been delivering on our goal to increase our plant-based offerings though exciting innovation and alternatives to our most iconic and well-loved products.
Heinz Beanz Liberation
At Kraft Heinz we are in the midst of a Beanz Liberation. Our goal is to finally take our humble bean out of the can, harnessing its versatility, great taste and nutritional power. We are making a range of delicious, convenient and plant-based products accessible for everyone in the frozen category and beyond.
We offer a range of delicious plant-based products like our Heinz Beanz Burgers made from haricot, cannellini and black beans (winner of Product of the Year awards in the U.K.) and our range of Heinz Beanz Bowls, such as Smoky Chilli and Beanz Fragrant Coconut Bowl (finalist in the 2022 Grocer New Product Awards). We also launched a range of Heinz Beanz Nuggets helping parents who want reduce meat intake for their family and to make mealtimes delicious and nutritious.
In 2022, Kraft Heinz also became a founding member of the Beans is How coalition, a global campaign with the ambitious goal to double the global consumption of beans, legumes, and pulses in the next five years and amplify their importance as a simple, nutritious, and affordable solution to health and environmental challenges.
Philadelphia Plant-Based
Philadelphia, one of our most beloved brands, will be releasing a plant-based version of its iconic cream cheese. The product contains coconut oil to achieve that memorable creamy texture Philadelphia is known for along with potato starch and faba bean protein. This product began a limited release in 2022 and is expected to be launched nationally in the U.S. in 2023.
Kraft NotCheese
Kraft Heinz and NotCo launched a plant-based version of the iconic Kraft American cheese. This is the first product from our joint venture with NotCo (See above for more details on this partnership). The product tastes and melts like cheese and will come in American, provolone, and cheddar varieties. Key ingredients include coconut oil and chickpea protein. After a successful test market in 2022, NotCheese Slices will be rolling out nationally in the U.S. in 2023.
2022 Healthy Living Highlights
Capri Sun® cuts sugar by an average of 40 percent across the brand
In August 2022, Kraft Heinz launched a new formulation of Capri Sun beverages in the United States with an average of 40% less sugar than the prior version. Each single serving will now have on average, 8g of total sugars and 5g of added sugars. Our scientists spent several years perfecting the reformulation to achieve a significant decrease in sugar while maintaining the iconic, delicious taste that earned Capri Sun the title of kids’ #1 favorite juice drink. Still with the great taste kids love, our major breakthrough was using monk fruit concentrate, a natural sweetener that is gaining popularity in the food and beverage industry.
Heinz Made for Veggiez
Heinz launched a range of sauces to elevate the taste of vegetables and to help time-strapped consumers to create simple and delicious plant-based meals — from patatas bravas to miso-glazed aubergines. The team developed these sauces after noticing a lack of sauce offerings in the market designed to pair with vegetables, despite the growing consumer demand for plant-based diets. The sauces are vegan, gluten-free and contain no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Perfect for dipping, stir-frying, roasting, and marinating vegetables, each sauce is inspired by a different world cuisine to help you make all kinds of tasty recipes.
Golden Circle® Refreshers
Golden Circle Refreshers are exciting new low sugar fruit drinks launched in Australia in 2022. Golden Circle Refreshers are a refreshing combination of still water, fruit juice and fruity flavors, and are available in four delicious varieties — Berry Burst, Tropical Sunrise, Wild Waterfall, and Cool Crush. Refreshers fruit drinks are low calorie and low in sugar with no more than 2.5g sugars per 100ml and have no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Quero Sodium reduction journey
A beloved staple of Brazilian consumers, Quero prides itself in its commitment to quality and has been on a journey of nutritional transformation. In 2022, the brand reduced sodium by an incredible 50 percent across its canned vegetable category (corn, peas, tomato sauce) and 15 percent across its pasta sauce category. These initiatives collectively removed approximately 880 tons of salt across the Quero portfolio.
