PepsiCo: Closing the nutrition gap through innovation [Interview]

Access to a healthy balanced diet from an early age is critical for health promotion and disease prevention. “For me, science is my guide,” says O’Shea. “The evidence is well established that healthy balanced diets delivering nutrients of need and limiting certain nutrients that in excess are harmful – such as added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium – is foundational for good health.”

For individuals with specific risk factors or dietary related conditions, O’Shea notes that food choices can be incredibly impactful as part of a treatment regime along with medications. Type 2 diabetes risk factors, for example, can be responsive to changes in dietary behaviour, leading to less reliance on medication. “This is truly the concept of food as medicine,” she says. “Optimal diets for prevention and, when supported by science, as part of the treatment plan for certain conditions.”

Journey to deliver real change

Over the last few years, much of PepsiCo’s innovation has been focused on new product platforms and brands that offer consumers reduced or no sugar, lower sodium and reduced sat fat options, as well as positive nutritional ingredients.

“We’ve been on a journey for quite some time to change our recipes because we believe it is the right thing to do,” says O’Shea. “Making recipe changes to support those goals while ensuring there is no taste trade-off has been a huge undertaking.”

O’Shea says the results have been impressive. Pepsi Zero Sugar/Pepsi Black is now available in 121 international markets, while low- and no-sugar options such as Mountain Dew Zero Sugar, Gatorade Zero and several ready-to-drink (RTD) iced tea offerings have been expanded. New product lines such as SunChips Black Beans and new Quaker Oats flavour offerings are made with 100% whole grain oats.

“Some 62% of our beverage portfolio volume now meets our 2025 added sugar goal, up from 39% in 2015,” says O’Shea. “Seventy-two percent of our convenient foods portfolio volume already meets our 2025 sodium goal, up from 51% in 2015. And on saturated fat, we surpassed our 2025 goal four years ahead of schedule.”

PepsiCo also announced late last year its new 2030 sodium and diverse ingredient goals. The company aims to ensure that at least 75% of its global convenience foods portfolio volume will meet or be below category sodium targets.

Helping consumers make informed choices

PepsiCo also aims to ensure that consumers have the knowledge and tools to make healthy decisions, through simple fact-based, and easy-to-understand nutritional information. “We follow nutrition labelling requirements in the countries where our products are sold,” says O’Shea. “In many places we exceed these requirements through voluntary goals, together with the broader industry.”

In the US for example, PepsiCo, along with other beverage companies, voluntarily committed to the ‘Facts up Front’ front-of-pack labelling initiative, to give consumers easy access to simple messages about calorie content of food and beverage portions. In Europe, the company uses NutriScore labelling in markets that have formally adopted legislation endorsing the scheme.

“In Latin America, many markets now require labels on products high in sugar, salt, and fat,” says O’Shea. “We comply with these regulations, while also cautioning that such labels do not inform consumers about positive nutritional content or enable them to compare products within the same category.”

Tackling undernutrition

PepsiCo is addressing the role of diet in obesity and undernutrition. It is investing some $100 million in sustainable agriculture and nutrition access programmes in select priority markets identified by external experts, as part of the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge. The company is also partnering with communities to advance food security and help make nutritious food accessible to 50 million people.

“In Mexico, we sell Quaker 3 Minutos, a whole grain, oat-based breakfast product fortified with nine vitamins and minerals,” says O’Shea. “This product contains iron and vitamin B12, which are two of the three main nutritional deficiencies in the country. In South Africa, our White Star super maize meal provides taste and convenience, while also containing critical micronutrients including vitamin A, folic acid, iron, four B vitamins, and zinc.”

The company is also assisting in implementing clinically proven interventions that supplement the basic nutritional needs of children. Examples include Quaker Qrece in Mexico and Guatemala to overcome malnutrition, and Quaker Bowl of Growth in India. The company is also encouraging regenerative agricultural practices. Dedicated programming to support economic prosperity, farm worker security, and women's economic empowerment aims to improve the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people along the agricultural supply chain.

Progress to achieving meaningful change

The manufacturer believes that the demonstrable progress made over the past 15 years can help guide others to achieving meaningful change. “Global public health challenges are significant, and our efforts alone cannot solve them,” says O’Shea. “Nonetheless, we aim to help make positive choices available to more people every day. We can help to boost nutritional intake by improving the products consumers know and love. It is critical that all companies large and small advance transformation programmes, and transparently report their progress.”

Additionally, O’Shea recognises the persistent challenge posed by global hunger. As a leading CPG company, PepsiCo has shown the changes that industry can make to help advance food security and make nutritious food more accessible to people in need.

“We continue to meet our nutrition ambitions through a combination of current offerings, reformulation and innovation,” she says. “Critical to these efforts are our science-based PepsiCo Nutrition Criteria, which consider recommendations for food and nutrient intake from leading global and national public health authorities including the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Academy of Medicine. These criteria are accessible to all in a peer review publication and can be a resource for others in industry.”