A New Method to Monitor the Nutritional Quality of Packaged Foods in the Global Food Supply in Order to Provide Feasible Targets for Reformulation.

Nutrient profiling systems, initially designed to promote healthy food choices at the point of sale, can also provide the scientific basis for innovation and product reformulation by the food industry. This work presents a new profiling system to help define feasible nutrient targets for reformulation of packaged foods. The focus is on five key nutrients for which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set population-level goals: sugar, saturated fat, sodium, fiber, and protein. The methodology uses Mintel's Global New Products Database of packaged foods to (1) identify nutrients relevant to each food category (2) sort products into sub-categories defined by a unique nutritional signature, and (3) develop standards for "best of class" products. For instance, if targeted to be amongst the best 15% of the global food supply, pizza must have less than 4.0 g/100 g saturated fat, less than 520 mg/100 g total sodium and more than 9.8 g/100 g protein. Fiber and sugar are not identified as relevant nutrients for the pizza category and no targets are provided.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Fabienne Leroy, Andreas Rytz, Marie Tassy, Audrey Orengo, Véronique Rheiner Charles and Hilary Green were all employed by Nestlé at the time of the study and Adam Drewnowski is a member of the Nestlé Scientific Advisory Board. There was no corporate influence on the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; or in the writing of the manuscript. Adam Drewnowski, the originator of the Nutrient Rich Food Index, a nutrient profiling model, has received grants, contracts and honoraria from entities, both public and private, with an interest in nutrient profiling of food products.