Unilever sets new Future Foods ambition

Unilever today has announced a new annual global sales target of €1 billion from plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, within the next five to seven years. The growth will be driven by increasing vegan alternatives from brands including Magnum, Streets, Continental, and Hellmann’s.
The target is part of Unilever’s ‘Future Foods’ ambition, launched globally today with two key objectives: To help people transition towards healthier diets and to help reduce the environmental impact of the global food chain. Unilever has also committed to:
• Halve food waste in its direct global operations from factory to shelf by 2025 – five years earlier than previously committed, as part of the Champions 12.3 coalition target.
• Double the number of products delivering positive nutrition globally by 2025 – defined as products containing impactful amounts of vegetables, fruits, proteins, or micronutrients like vitamins, zinc, iron and iodine.
• Continue lowering calorie, salt and sugar levels across products
o 85 per cent of Unilever’s global Foods portfolio will help consumers reduce their salt intake to no more than 5g per day, by 2022.
o 95 per cent of Unilever’s packaged ice cream will not contain more than 22g of total sugar, and 250 Kcal per serving, by 2025. This is in addition to the company’s children’s ice creams, which have been capped at 110 Kcal since 2014.
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Unilever has already made progress expanding its plant-based dairy alternatives and reducing food waste. In Australia and New Zealand specifically, Unilever has:
• Accelerated availability of plant-based and dairy alternatives: Including offering dairy-free options of Magnum, Weis and Ben & Jerry’s ice creams. Meanwhile, Unilever Food Solutions is empowering chefs to cook more plant-based meals using vegan products including Hellmann’s Vegan Mayo, Knorr Intense Flavours and Knorr Tomato Powder.
• Significantly reduced food waste: Through longstanding programs to reduce waste to landfill across its Australian factories. Unilever has also donated almost 700,000 servings of food and beverage products including Continental, Knorr, Hellmann’s, Lipton Ice Tea, Pure Leaf and T2 to Foodbank for distribution across Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, Unilever has positively contributed to Yume Food’s mission to achieve “a world without waste” by preventing over 4,000 kgs of surplus food from going to waste in the last year.
• Enhanced nutritional quality of food products and re-formulated ice-creams with less sugar and fewer calories: Continental’s Nutrish Soups range includes sources of protein or fibre and Future 50 ingredients such as amaranth, quinoa, hemp seed, sweet potato, lentils & sprouted peas. Weis have recently launched mini-sized bars giving Australians portion-controlled options.
“It is widely recognised that the current global food system is inequitable and inefficient. One billion people around the world are hungry while two billion are obese or overweight. One third of all food produced is thrown away. And animal agriculture is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuels and a leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss,” Hanneke Faber, president of Unilever’s Foods & Refreshment Division, said.
Jessica Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Global Food & Agricultural Policy and Ethics, Johns Hopkins University and a co-author of the EAT-Lancet report said: “The average person’s daily diet will need to change drastically during the next three decades to make sure everyone is fed without depleting the planet. By improving food production and food environments, transforming eating habits, and reducing food waste, we can begin to solve these problems. Unilever’s commitments are integral to helping people make changes to their diet, with healthier and more sustainable food products that are accessible and affordable for their consumers.”