Mars, Incorporated offers a variety of delicious brands that bring joy to people all over the world. Many of our products contain sugar, as it gives our treats their sweet taste and also affects more functional aspects, such as product texture and shelf life. However, it’s also an ingredient that should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet and active lifestyle.
The world’s leading health authorities—including the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition—recommend that people limit their intake of sugars, particularly those added to foods, to no more than 10% of total energy/caloric intake. We fully support this recommendation.
Approach
Our approach to help limit intake of added sugars to less than 10% of total calorie intake builds on the steps we have taken over time to help consumers achieve their nutritional goals. Specifically, we take the following steps:
- Apply Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labeling to our chocolate, confectionery and food products to help consumers make informed decisions through clear, consistent information
- Support new on-pack and digital labeling approaches, where such approaches are supported by a coalition of science and nutrition experts, regulators, retailers, industry leaders and NGOs (for example, the US government’s proposal to include an added sugar declaration in the Nutrition Facts panel on packaging)
- Limit all our chocolate and confectionery products to no more than 250 calories per serving
- Increase our chocolate and confectionery product offerings with less than 200 calories per serving
- Offer sugar-free and low-sugar Wrigley gum
- Promote the oral health benefits of sugar-free gum
- Aim for 95% of Mars Food products to adhere to the Mars Food Nutrition Criteria, which are based on the strictest and most widely agreed upon nutrition recommendations issued by the World Health Organization and other leading health authorities
- Adhere to a strict Marketing Code that does not allow marketing communications to children under 12 for our food, chocolate, confectionery and gum products
We recognize that the health and nutritional challenges facing our society are daunting. As a business, we are hard at work on an overall health and wellbeing strategy for our company and our diverse portfolio, and we are committed to being a part of the solution to this challenge.
We have a lot of work to do and we know we can’t do it alone. Supporting global public health efforts to limit society’s consumption of added sugars and labeling our products transparently, are steps in the right direction for us and will benefit everyone who enjoys Mars products.