Offering guidance on portions
Our commitment: Offer guidance on portions for our products
Helping people eat a balanced diet
Around the world, expanding portion sizes are contributing to imbalanced eating habits, and leading to adverse health outcomes. Conversely, undersized portions of vegetables, whole grains and milk are not delivering the required levels of daily nutrition. As the largest global food manufacturer, we have a unique opportunity to help guide individuals and families to pursue a healthy diet through informed choices and Nestlé Portion Guidance.
Progress against our objectives
| Our objectives | Our results |
|
By 2020: Continue providing guidance on portions globally on all children’s and family product packs and add frequency of consumption indications on relevant products. By 2020: Extend our guidance on portions to our consumer recipes, and relevant teenager and adult products. By 2020: Gradually increase the proportion of guidance on portions provided through product form, pack design, serving device or dispenser to make it even more intuitive than on-pack messaging. |
CHF 40.1 billion Sales of products across all categories of the Company providing Nestlé Portion Guidance*. 64.3% of our children’s and family portfolio provides Nestlé Portion Guidance**. 79.3% of our foods and beverages with a significant impact on children’s overall diets, such as recurring and more indulgent choices, that display Nestlé Portion Guidance**. 17.5% of our children’s and family portfolio provide Nestlé Portion Guidance through product form and 16.0% do so through pack design**. 82 of our consumer websites provide guidance on age-appropriate portions. |
Our approach
Helping consumers understand portion sizes
We encourage age-appropriate portion sizes through our voluntary Nestlé Portion Guidance initiative. First, our products and packs themselves provide this guidance to equip consumers when they plan, buy, prepare and serve our products.
Through our recipe websites, we are extending the guidance to cooks, food lovers, and individuals and families seeking more detailed information. For example, the Croquons la vie website of Nestlé France is doing that in colourful visual ways. Our Cereal partners Worldwide joint venture also launched an online Cereal Serving Size Guide, which provides clear information on our range of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals in an entertaining way. Online infographics (pdf, 2Mb) and posters (pdf, 7Mb) in consumer media, like the ones developed by Nestlé Australia, help reach out to all families.
Nestlé Spain launched a colourful Nutriplato plate. This was complemented by a guidebook for parents and a website, promoting a Mediterranean diet to help improve the eating habits of children aged 4 to 12. We developed this initiative in collaboration with the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona, a leader in paediatrics.
Fuelling the discussion, inspiring action
We engage with leading scientists, policy-makers, health practitioners and consumer advocates, as well as public health researchers, packaging experts and parents to continually improve our recommendations and promote action on healthier portion habits and norms.
One example of that is the workshop organized by the Nestlé USA team at FNCE. The event, entitled Mindful Portion Start with You: Help Create a Movement! reached 500 dietitians. It addressed the current science around portion habits and gave attendees the skills to build greater engagement within their communities. Expert speakers included Dr. Lisa Young of New York University, Jackie Haven of the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, and Bill Novelli from the Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
* Due to ongoing automation, a few product categories are not yet reflected here. More visibility on teenager and adult products will be possible at end 2018.
** Due to ongoing automation, some products are not fully reflected here.
