Transforming the world’s food systems for a more nutritious, more sustainable, and fairer future

The world’s food system isn’t workingWe’re acting to change itFood that’s nutritious. Food that’s sustainable. Food that’s fair.Everyone, everywhere deserves access to good food.

But for people to get their fair share, the world’s food system needs to change.

It should be giving everyone affordable, quality nutrition, with plenty of plant-based choices. It should be serving consumers, and producers, fairly. And it should be cutting waste, and promoting sustainable agriculture.

It isn’t doing that - yet. But we want to lead the way.

Too unbalanced, too wasteful, and too vulnerableAlready, around 2 billion people are overweight. Nearly a billion people go to bed hungry, while a third of all food produced is lost or wasted.

Producing and consuming food is exhausting the earth’s resources and fuelling climate change. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic is reminding us all of the importance of a resilient food supply chain.

Nothing less than a transformation is needed.

“Every day, half a billion of our products are consumed, so we can and should lead the transformation of the food system. It is our responsibility to make it easier for people to eat healthy, tasty and more sustainable foods.”

Hanneke Faber, our President, Foods & Refreshment

In 2019, 56% of our portfolio by volume met the Highest Nutritional Standards, based on globally recognised dietary guidelines.

Global solutions to a global challengeFeeding the world is a global priority - and it needs to be tackled at a global level. That means open, international collaboration. It also means determined action.

As one of the biggest consumer goods companies in the world, with a large Foods & Refreshment portfolio, we want to make a huge impact through our scale and reach.

Four ways we’re leading change - and what we’d like to see from others Will you join us?

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1Nutritious foods and healthy, balanced dietsWe want all consumers to have access to affordable products, and we encourage people to make nutritious choices through clear labelling and balanced portions.

We’re ensuring our products are Responsibly Delicious. We’re providing essential micronutrients in a growing number of our products, reducing salt and sugar, and lowering calories. We’ve reduced the sugar content of Lipton Ice Tea by 30% across Europe, for example. We’ve also introduced a 110 calorie cap on our children’s ice cream.

What are we calling for?• Reformulation targets to be aligned

with WHO guidelines for fats, salt and sugar, with incentives to create smaller portions.

• An end to marketing communications to children under 12, to create a level playing field.

• The removal of regulatory hurdles to fortifying products with key micronutrients to help eradicate deficiencies.

Our brands in actionLipton ice teas – less sugar, just as refreshing Since 2010, we’ve removed 29% of sugar from our Lipton ready-to-drink ice teas – that’s the equivalent of 159 billion sugar cubes and 2,500 billion calories saved.

Currently, 63% is below 5 g of sugar per 100 ml, meeting Unilever’s Highest Nutritional Standards (HNS). Across our whole ready-to-drink tea portfolio, we’ve reduced sugar by 23% since 2010.

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2Making plant-based choices available to allWe want to make sure that everyone can be part of the move towards plant-based foods and alternative proteins.

We’ve hugely expanded our range of dairy-free and vegan options, such as Hellmann’s Vegan and Magnum Vegan. Our Knorr brand partnered with WWF UK to publish the Future 50 Foods report, promoting more diverse plant-based eating and biodiversity.

And we’ve made a €85m investment in a new Foods Innovation Centre at the Campus of Wageningen University and Research, which will help formulate the next generation of meat and dairy alternatives to join the plant-based foods that already make up around a third of our portfolio.

What are we calling for?• Support for making plant-based

foods mainstream, including investment in plant-based food innovation and direct public procurement of plant-based foods.

• Stop proposals that constrain the labelling of alternative proteins and protect denominations

Our brands in actionOur award-winning Magnum VeganOur Magnum Vegan ice creams contain all of the indulgence of a Magnum but without the dairy ingredients – and they’re still below 250 kcal and 20 g of sugar per piece.

Vegan Classic and Vegan Almond contain high quality, real Belgian chocolate and coconut oil, as well as a velvety vanilla-flavoured pea protein.

The ice creams are certified as suitable for vegans by the European Vegetarian Union and Vegan Action.

Magnum Vegan Almond received the 2019 ‘Best Vegan Product’ award from the Dutch Vegan Society, and ‘Best Vegan Ice Cream’ from PETA in the UK.

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3Less food wastePeople hate to see food wasted, especially when times are hard.

So do we.

We’re tackling food waste, both in our supply chain, and by helping consumers reduce the amount of food they throw away. To avoid the confusion around date labels that often causes people to throw away good food, Unilever signed the CGF commitment to switch to standardised food expiry dates by 2020. And as a member of Champions 12.3, a global coalition of leaders from governments, businesses and civil society, we are dedicated to accelerating progress on food waste.

What are we calling for?• In 2021, countries with >95% of the

global population have set specific food loss and waste (FLW) reduction targets aligned with Target 12.3. By 2027 these countries will have quantified base year FLW and have started reporting on FLW.

• Harmonised regulations that set “use-by” dates for foods with shorter durability on the basis of safety, and “best-before” dates for foods with longer durability on the grounds of quality.

Our brands in actionHellmann’s: on the side of foodWith Hellmann’s, all sorts of delicious meals are possible with leftovers. We’re on the side of food – and believe it’s too good to be wasted.

Turning pulp from juicing into a burger. Making a delicious leftover breakfast hash. Creating a nut roast toastie. These are just some of the recipe suggestions the brand has shared in its campaign to help fight food waste.

Hellmann’s is always looking for ways to reach out to consumers and inspire them to eat well while reducing waste. It launched Bring Your Own Food restaurants in São Paulo and Prague, where celebrity chefs turned leftover ingredients into five-star meals using Hellmann’s. And Hellmann’s Red and Green Tomato Ketchup, is preventing up to 2.5 million tomatoes being wasted each year by working with its supplier to buck the ketchup convention of only using red tomatoes, and using perfectly good green ones too.

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4Food that’s fair, and doesn’t cost the earthWe all want our food to be made in ways that are fair to others, and the planet.

So at the same time as supporting consumers in choosing healthy, balanced diets, we strive to source our ingredients sustainably and support farmers and others who make their livelihood from working with us.

By 2019 we had enabled 793,000 smallholder farmers to access initiatives aiming to improve their agricultural practices.

We’re tackling deforestation, and we’re on a journey to becoming carbon neutral across our business by 2030, as part of our support for a world of zero emissions by 2050.

And we’ve made industry-leading commitments on plastic across our business. Food packaging is no exception - for example, our new Hellmann’s 100% recycled and recyclable plastic jars and bottles, launched in 2020 (Q1) in the US and Canada, will save around 13,000 tons of virgin plastic per year.

What are we calling for?• Greater political momentum ahead of

COP26, including long-term strategies from all countries for decarbonisation in line with the Paris Agreement’s upper level of ambition.

• Better carbon pricing, and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies that drive negative carbon prices.

• The repurposing of existing agricultural subsidies to grow a variety of crops for a balanced diet, and support for farmers transitioning to regenerative agriculture.

• A more favourable policy environment for plastic waste reduction, including approval of food-grade recycled plastics, financial incentives for the right behaviours, and support for advanced recycling technologies.

• Better recycling infrastructure, and industry-wide action to reduce plastic use and improve waste management, including collection, in line with SDG 12 and the principles of a circular economy for plastics.

Wall’s and Vanilla for Change: strengthening smallholder communitiesHelping smallholder farmers and their communities increase yields sustainably is key to changing the way food is produced.

Vanilla, an essential ingredient in our ice creams, is a prime example. In Madagascar, where the world’s best vanilla is grown, smallholders face extreme weather, price fluctuations, and poor health and diet.

Since 2014, our Wall’s brand’s strategic alliance in Madagascar has aimed to improve livelihoods by supporting vanilla smallholders and the wider community.

By the end of September 2019, the initiative had reached over 59,000 people in over 10,000 households, including around 7,800 smallholder farmers who had accessed agricultural training.

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Knorr: changing flexible packaging while keeping soups deliciousFlexible packaging plays an important role in keeping long-lasting products such as Knorr’s delicious dry soups in perfect condition. With a shelf life of 18–24 months, dry soups need to be protected, and the packaging needs to be safe as well as technically viable to make and use in our factories.

At the same time, as part of our commitment to cut plastic waste, we want to make sure our flexible packaging can be recycled. That calls for innovation.

At our Besan factory in Istanbul, Turkey we’re putting innovation into action. We worked with local NGOs and suppliers to develop flexible packaging for Knorr soups that has been formally certified by Institute cyclos – HTP as recyclable.

It is a move that helps contribute to a circular economy approach to plastic waste - and one we hope will inspire other consumer goods companies to do the same.

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