General Mills says that it has improved the health profile of 68% of its U.S. retail sales volume since 2005.
In fiscal 2012 alone, the company claims that it improved nearly 16% of its U.S. retail sales volume.
Improvements include adding whole grains, fibre and calcium, and reducing calories, sugar, sodium and trans fat. General Mills first began tracking and quantifying health improvements in 2005.
“Health improvements have increasingly become a primary driver of our innovation, both on existing products and as we develop new products,” said Marc Belton, General Mills executive vice president of Global Strategy, Growth and Marketing Innovation.
“We know that people expect great taste from our products, so we are careful to balance strong health benefits and health improvements with great taste. But it would be accurate to say that General Mills is squarely focused on health, because we know that consumers have come to know and expect that from General Mills.”
In 2012, General Mills reached what it describes as a multi-year reformulation milestone across its portfolio of Big G cereals to ensure that every Big G cereal now has more whole grain than any other single ingredient. Every Big G cereal now contains at least 9 grams of whole grain per serving, and more than 20 General Mills cereals deliver at least 16 grams.
The company also says that it accomplished multiple sodium reductions across its portfolio of products in fiscal 2012. General Mills previously announced that it would trim sodium, on average, by 20% in its top 10 categories by 2015. This sodium reduction effort represents about 40% of the company’s U.S. retail portfolio — everything from snacks to soups to side dishes.
Sodium reductions in fiscal 2012 were made across General Mills’ portfolio. Examples include a 10% or more sodium reduction on several Chex Mixvarieties, several Big G cereals, and a number of Hamburger Helper dinners, as well as other products in the meals category.
The Fiber One family of products was expanded in fiscal 2012 to include Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies. The brownies provide 20% of the recommended Daily Value of fibre with 5 grams of fibre per serving.
Other achievements in sugar reduction and fat reduction were also announced.
Since 2005, when General Mills first implemented its Health Metric, the company says that the nutrition profiles of more than 650 different s products in the U.S. have been improved.
