Having been pressured by investors over obesity, Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) has announced that it will publish nutrition scores for its ice cream and food portfolio, as a response to external health metrics, and set new goals.
The FTSE 100 consumer goods manufacturer, which makes treats such as Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum and Wall's ice-creams as well as Hellmann's mayonnaise, has committed to assessing its performance against six different government-endorsed nutrient profile models (NPMs), including the UK's regulations against high fat, salt, and sugar, and Europe's Nutri-Score, Unilever said in a statement.
Based on its own definition, Unilever claimed 61% of its food and drink sales adhered to high nutritional standards. Access to Nutrition Initiative, an independent review organisation, had estimated that Unilever's food sales were made up of around 17% healthy products.
From now on, the consumer food giant will measure its sales in 16 countries, including the US, the UK and China, using government-endorsed NPMs and, starting in October, it will publish an annual report on its product portfolio.
After Unilever agreed to adopt external health and nutrition metrics, an investor alliance led by UK investor group ShareAction withdrew a shareholder resolution from the upcoming AGM.
Investors managing US$215bn of assets jointly endorsed the resolution, which demanded that Unilever disclose against government-endorsed standards and adopt ambitious healthy food sales targets ahead of the corporate's annual general meeting in May.
ShareAction coordinated the resolution, which included multinational asset manager Candriam, Dutch asset manager ACTIAM, US healthcare company Trinity Health, and UK entities Guy’s & St Thomas' Foundation, CCLA Investment Management, and Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
Unilever will be the first global food group to publish nutritional performance in this way, it said, following extensive discussions with ShareAction and the Healthy Markets Initiative.
Following today's move, Catherine Howarth, chief executive of ShareAction, said, "The transparency promised sets a new standard for the industry. We hope and expect that others will follow."
Unilever has also agreed to set stretching new targets for growing the proportion of its healthier products by October in advance of its 2023 AGM and to submit these targets to shareholder scrutiny.