HOW WE'RE DELIVERING ON HEALTH
Health is a core part of our heritage and is at the heart of our mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible.
We are committed to supporting health at every stage of life and have built a health-focused portfolio. Our products are built on decades of research and scientific expertise in health and nutrition. We aim to support healthy eating across people’s lifespan, provide patients with the nutritional support they need through treatment and recovery and address key public health challenges, such as obesity and malnutrition. These are some of the most significant ways we can use our business as a force for good.
TASTIER AND HEALTHIER FOOD AND DRINK
Diet-related conditions, such as obesity and malnutrition, are among the biggest health challenges in the UK & Ireland. Many people consume too much fat, salt and calories, and not enough fibre.
We want to make a positive impact by offering healthier, tailored products to meet the nutritional needs of the population in the UK and Ireland. And we’re uniquely placed to do so with our healthy portfolio.
Our approach
As part of our promise to consumers to prioritise healthy products, in 2023 Danone UK & Ireland launched new health commitments across our dairy, plant-based and beverages portfolio.
We have committed:
- That at least 90% of our portfolio of products by sales volume will not be high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS), defined by the UK Government’s current policy and legislation relating to HFSS.
- That, additionally, at least 85% of our porfolio by sales volume will be rates as "healthy" - receiving a score of at least 3.5 stars out of 5 - within the Health Star Rating Index. The inernational index assesses the overall nutritional profile of packaged food and provides a quick, easy, standard way to compare foods.
- To never produce a product for children which is high in sugar, salt or fat (HFSS), defined by the UK Government’s current policy and legislation relating to HFSS.
As part of these commitments, we have also confirmed our intention to implement clear, consistent front of pack nutritional labelling in line with future UK and Ireland legislation.
A snapshot of our work
To maintain a healthy portfolio, we have worked to reformulate our products in order to reduce sugar. From 2015 to 2019, we achieved a 20% reduction in sugar across our yogurt range, in line with the UK governments voluntary guidelines. We’re commited to further reducing sugar across our portfolio, while making sure that we continue to deliver great taste.
We’ve also added to our ranges and launched new products to offer more healthy and tasty options on supermarket shelves, including Activia Kefir and Danone Skyr. And in 2024 we extended our range of Alpro Plant Protein products, in recognition of the growing trend of plant-based nutrition and the increasing desire from consumers to have a wider range of high-protein options.
READ OUR FOCUS ON HEALTH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE PROVIDE TASTIER AND HEALTHIER FOOD AND DRINK
PROMOTING HEALTHIER CHOICES
We want to make the healthy choice the easy choice. We have an opportunity to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking habits by giving practical, user‑friendly education and information on nutrition. We achieve this through our approach to clear nutritional labelling, as well as advocacy, partnerships, education and community engagement.
We think it’s important for people to have the right kind of nutritional information to make informed decisions about health. We work in partnership with retailers to support better signposting in supermarkets. Our strategic partnerships with charities like FoodCycle and FoodCloud allow us to reach new communities where we can provide resources and guidance. And we work at a policy level to advocate for government action to make it easier for everyone to access healthy food. We provide consumers with nutritional information using ‘traffic light labels’ and the ‘Health Star Rating system’, which were created using government and scientifically backed nutrient profiling models respectively. And we also ensure we market our products responsibly and transparently.
A snapshot of our work
We’ve worked closely with retailers to help make it easier for shoppers to buy healthier options. For example we launched new ‘immunity and gut health bays’ to showcase the benefit of yogurts with functional benefits or fortification.
Our partnerships with social enterprises, charities and partners are also key to promoting healthy, sustainable diets more widely. Our long‑standing partnership between Alpro and HEART UK has helped promote better dietary choices for those hoping to lower their blood cholesterol. We are always exploring new ways that we can teach communities about health and nutrition. Partnering with patient groups and charities, we also support patients with lifelong health conditions and advocate for the importance of nutrition when it comes to recovery.
Our GetPRO Professional Grassroots Sports Nutrition Grant, hosted in partnership with The Nutrition Society, funds early career sports nutritionists in supporting local grassroots adult sports clubs and teams. GetPRO Professional aims to make sports nutrition support and expert advice accessible to everyone - by putting evidence-based sports nutrition at the heart of community sport.
READ OUR FOCUS ON HEALTH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE PROMOTE HEALTHY CHOICES
PROVIDING POSITIVE NUTRITION & HYDRATION
Nutrition has the power to make a positive contribution to consumer health and patient outcomes. Yet many people are not getting enough of the nutrients they need, like fibre, Vitamin D, and many older adults don’t eat enough protein. We believe every food choice is an opportunity to promote a balanced and healthy diet. We are always exploring how we can support the specific health needs of shoppers and patients.
We look to reformulate our products with nutritional deficiencies in mind and focus on areas where we can contribute to positive health outcomes. Our healthcare business supports patients who are malnourished, which means they are not getting enough of the right nutrients in the right amounts. Our Nutricia Homeward nurses in the UK, and our Nutricia Care service in Ireland, directly support with disease-related malnutrition using Nutricia’s evidence-backed products. Our Nutricia Homeward nursing service helps nearly 32,000 patients across the UK manage enteral tube feeding at home safely and independently.
A snapshot of our work
We continue to innovate so we can support the nutritional needs of our consumers. This includes our Activia Fibre range, as well as our Actimel products, which contain Vitamin D.Our Actimel Triple action has been enriched so one bottle of Actimel Plus provides 100% of the EU reference intake for Vitamin D. We also changed the recipe of our most popular Alpro Oat drink. Now made from 100% British Oats, the new recipe also contains additional iodine, a nutrient commonly found in dairy and often lacking in plant-based diets, to strengthen its nutritional profile. And we added magnesium and vitamin B9 to our GetPRO range to provide more precise benefits for sports enthusiasts — helping to support muscle recovery and reduce fatigue.
We also raise awareness about malnutrition, which continues to go undetected and untreated in the UK. It is estimated that 3 million people are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. This represents a major health issue for individual patients and has economic consequences for the NHS. The annual associated costs are an estimated £22.6 billion in England alone, yet only 2% of people admitted to hospital with disease related malnutrition are receiving a diagnosis. Through Nutricia we have world-leading expertise in preventing and managing disease-related malnutrition in clinical settings, backed by our significant research capabilities. To help tackle malnutrition in the UK, we advocate for better access to screening for patients in all care settings. We also believe in providing medics, GPs, and pharmacists with more comprehensive and consistent information so that they can better identify malnutrition and implement appropriate care plans early.
In 2022 we launched the Nutricia Academy to support our HCPs with ongoing education. In 2024 we launched a new learning record function, to help HCPs keep track of their continued professional development and ensure our patients are receiving the most optimal nutritional care.
READ OUR FOCUS ON HEALTH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE PROVIDE POSITIVE NUTRITION AND HYDRATION
INVESTING IN NUTIRITION & HYDRATION SCIENCE & RESEARCH
High quality science and research drives innovation and understanding of how we can provide the right nutrition at the right time, throughout life. It helps us identify and address areas where we can add value for consumers and patients such as gut health, immunity, allergy, malnutrition and child health.
We conduct extensive research, carried out by Danone employees and in collaboration with third parties, such as the NHS in the UK to help us to understand and improve consumer and patient health and wellbeing. In 2023, Danone opened the international Daniel Carasso Research and Innovation Centre in Paris‑Saclay. At the centre, world-class researchers in life sciences, fermentation, intestinal microbiota, nutrition and health develop cutting-edge insights to be deployed in our product innovation. In Utrecht, our Research and Innovation Centre is a creative, high-spirit powerhouse that develops globally available innovative nutritional solutions.
In the UK & Ireland, our Clinical Research and Medical Affairs teams include expert dietitians, nutritionists and researchers, who make sure we support patient and consumer health with evidenced-backed food products. Our Nutricia Liverpool facility is dedicated to developing and manufacturing specialised medical nutrition products used all around the world, with a focus on early life and metabolic disorders.
We publish our scientific finding, share learnings and engage in discussions to move science forward when it comes to the impact of food, nutrition and hydration in health and disease.
We continue to innovate for our patients to ensure we can offer the nutritional support that is right for them. Patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) are increasingly looking for plant-based alternatives in medical nutrition, such as enteral tube feeds and oral nutritional supplements. So we worked to create an evidence base for plant-based nutritional products. As a result, we have been able to extend our range of nutritional solutions, including hybrid protein products as well as plant-based nutritional supplements, offering patients more choice.
READ OUR FOCUS ON HEALTH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW WE INVEST IN RESEARCH
HEALTH STAR RATING
Our mission to “bring health through food to as many people as possible” goes hand to hand with our Danone Impact Journey(DIJ) ambition and our global “Société à Mission” commitment to promote healthier choices and offer tastier and healthier food and drink to consumers.
The objective of Health Star Rating (HSR) system is to rate the nutritional value of food products to help consumers making informed choices in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
At Danone, since 2019 we have decided to voluntarily provide additional information on our products by means of the internationally recognized/government-endorsed Health Star Rating system. We also use this as a reference for our formal external reporting and our commitments and policies:
As a listed company in France, we report yearly with the French Financial Markets Authority our nutritional performance against the Health Star Rating system (Cf.: Universal Registration Document (URD) and Integrated annual report),
As part of the global Danone Impact Journey, we have set targets for the healthiness of our portfolio. By 2025 we aim to have ≥ 85% of our portfolio sales in volumes rated ≥3.5 stars or more by the Health Stars Rating system*.
We use the Health Star Rating system to frame the Danone Policy on Marketing to Children.
Danone only makes nutrition and health claims on products that score ≥2.5 stars by the Health Star Rating system.
The Health Star Rating system has been developed on the UK’s Food Standards Agency Nutrient profiling model supported by the independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). Health Star Rating has been selected by the Global non-profit Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) as one of the main Global Index used to report about the nutritional performance of products portfolios. Health Stars Rating system takes into account the energy, saturated fat, sodium and total sugars content along with fruit and vegetable content, dietary fiber and proteins of food to rate products.
Reflecting our Danone Impact Journey health commitment to increase transparency around nutrition and enable consumers to make informed decisions, we have now decided to make this important information available online as well.