CPGs Make Healthier Products

DAVID ORGEL

COLORADO SPRINGS — Member companies of Grocery Manufacturers Association have created some 10,000 healthier product choices between 2006 and this year, according to newly released data collected for GMA's 2010 Health & Wellness Survey.

That finding was disclosed in a speech by Pamela Bailey, the association's president and CEO, during GMA's Executive Conference here. GMA had earlier found that some 10,000 healthier products were created by member companies between 2002 and 2006, Bailey said.

“In less than a decade, you have developed over 20,000 healthier product choices for your consumers,” she told members. “This means, for example, that since 2002, saturated fats have been reduced or eliminated in over 6,000 products and trans fats reduced or eliminated in over 10,000 products.”

This is “a compelling message for consumers and policymakers in the context of our national discourse on obesity,” she added.

Bailey noted that GMA and its member companies have publicly pledged to take 1.5 trillion calories out of the food supply to battle obesity through the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation.

The 2010 GMA Health & Wellness Survey data was collected and analyzed by Georgetown Economic Services. Fifty-seven companies, representing approximately half of U.S. food and beverage sales, have shared data for the survey since 2002.

Through the survey, food and beverage companies revealed that they collectively have: