The next generation of food
Many of the leading global food and health authorities have recognised the importance of shifting towards a diet that positively impacts both human and planetary health. Facilitating the transition towards healthy, sustainable diets requires a multi-disciplinary approach, in which the public and private sectors work together to develop and support food policy. Through our ambition to offer essential nutrition and support healthy, balanced diets, we are contributing to global objectives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, World Health Organization (WHO) Global Protection Plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013–2030 and WHO REPLACE initiative. We aim to contribute to these objectives through our products, through education and communication, through collaboration in scientific research and by ensuring that our programmes are all based on the best available science. Read our Nutrition Policy for more information.
Based on international scientific standards (i.e. WHO, FAO) and dietary guidelines for healthy eating patterns, our Nutrition Benchmarking Programme ensures that the products will deliver on the desired nutrition composition and may contribute to improving health through the provision of nutrients that target the world’s greatest public health areas of concern such as heart health and healthy growth and development for children. As part of our sustainability framework, we actively seek to improve recipes to meet or exceed nutrition benchmarks for saturated fat, beneficial nutrients and contain no trans-fats from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Our first annual Nutrition Milestone Report highlights key initiatives related to healthy and nutritious foods.
Flora Food Group was included in the Access to Nutrition initiative (ATNi) Global Index 2024 for the first time, receiving the highest score for any new entrant. We are particularly proud of our score in the portfolio improvement category, highlighting our positive approach to deliver healthy and nutritious foods.
Fats play a vital role in our diets. They provide energy, help absorb important vitamins and are key components of our cells and hormones. While some fats are better for us than others, it’s important to include the right kinds - especially those found in plants - to support overall health. A balanced diet can help most people get enough healthy fats and essential vitamins.
FAQs
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What does healthy vs nutritious for Flora Food Group's products mean?Healthy products are in line with WHO recommendations on saturated fat and sodium, with no trans fat (from PHVO); products with added nutrients where this matters to consumers, in line with product classifications. On the other hand, how we define ‘Nutritious’ is based on our Nutrition Principles in our Nutrition Policy and reflected in the way we design our products and communicate on their benefits. Nutritious products will always be better on saturated fat and trans-fat than the conventional dairy counterparts; nutrients are limited or added where this matters to consumers, in line with product classifications.
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What role do fats play in our diet?Fats play a vital role in our diets. They provide energy, help absorp important vitamins and are key components of our cells and hormones. While some fats are better for us than others, it’s important to include the right kinds - especially those found in plants - to support overall health.
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What oils do we use in FFG products?content missing
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What are some other ways our products support healthy diets?Sodium level benchmarking
Sodium plays a functional role to preserve food as well as to provide flavour, which is a very important part of every meal. However, eating too much sodium on a regular basis can increase blood pressure and high blood pressure (hypertension), both of which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends limiting the amount of sodium we consume to 2,000mg (or 5 gram of sodium) a day. Our Nutrition Benchmark Programme (NBP) includes sodium targets based on the latest scientific evidence, for example our healthy spreads aim to meet the WHO sodium benchmark of 400mg/100g.
Fortification
At Flora Food Group, we help support healthy diets by adding essential vitamins and minerals to some of our products through fortification in line with product propositions.
This process is always backed by scientific evidence and designed to improve or maintain health.
We make sure our fortified foods meet all local regulations. Many of our products are ideal for adding fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, and E. We also add calcium and Vitamin B12 in some cases to promote healthy, sustainable diets.
When local rules don’t exist, we follow international guidelines to ensure safe and effective fortification.
Plant sterols
Plant sterols are natural compounds found in foods like vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. They help lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by blocking some of the cholesterol from being absorbed in the gut.
Since high cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease, getting enough plant sterols can make a real difference. Health experts recommend 1.5-3g of plant sterols daily to help reduce cholesterol levels.
Most people get only about 0.3g per day from a regular diet, but our ProActiv products contain an enough plant sterol per serving to have a cholesterol lowering benefit - making it easier to reach effective levels
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What are the main benefits of the new paper packaging?Our new paper tubs are plastic-free, recyclable, and made from renewable materials. This allows us to eliminate plastic waste while embracing a more sustainable solution. The paper tubs are also durable, oil resistant, food safe and maintain the quality and freshness consumers expect from our products.
Dietary fats play a key role in children’s health, especially during their early growth stages as many children don't meet their required essential fat intake. Here’s why fats are so important:
- Support absorption of fat-soluble vitamins: Vitamins A, D, E, and K need fat to be absorbed properly, which is essential for healthy development and survival.
- Aid growth and development: Fats are crucial for brain development, hormone production, and building healthy cells.
- Impact long-term health: The type of fats children consume can influence their risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases later in life.
- Support cardiovascular health: It’s not just the amount of fat but the quality—choosing healthier fats supports heart health.
- Meeting recommended daily allowance: Many children don't meet their essential fats intake. Omega 3&6 are essential for their growth and development
To support heart health, it’s important to focus on the type of fats in your diet. Here’s what the research shows:
- Replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats: This helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the blood.
- Improves cholesterol balance: Swapping saturated fats for unsaturated fats also lowers LDL cholesterol and improves the total cholesterol to HDL (good cholesterol) ratio.
- Reduces risk of heart disease: High blood cholesterol is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD).
- Multiple factors matter: Since CHD has many causes, improving more than one risk factor can further reduce overall risk.
- Making these dietary changes is a proven way to support cardiovascular health over the long term.
HDL vs. LDL Cholesterol
HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) is known as "good" cholesterol because it helps remove excess cholesterol from your bloodstream and takes it to the liver for disposal. LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) is called "bad" cholesterol because it can build up in your artery walls, forming plaques that increase the risk of heart disease.
Our packaging uses pulp and paper, which is sustainably sourced and will continue to do so as we seek better packaging solutions. For example, our new paper tubs for spreads like Flora are made from compressed wet paper fibers and use paper from PEFC-certified suppliers. We require our suppliers to achieve independent certification that the paper we use is sustainably sourced, by complying with the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Standards, or equivalent (PEFC) . Where viable, we use recycled material for our products. We focus on eliminating deforestation from our supply chain, as well as better understanding and addressing potential issues arising out of forest degradation and the reduction of biodiversity. We go to great lengths to carefully adhere to all local and national policies, sourcing from only legally-harvested wood and from sustainable sources. Protection of high-carbon-stock forests, as well as protection of high conservation value sites, also drive our sustainability efforts as we continue to innovate more sustainable paper-based packaging solutions.
We are working to make our packaging more circular by increasing recycled content and ensuring all our packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable. Over 90% of our packaging is already recyclable, reusable or compostable and our goal is to ensure all our packaging in recyclable by 2030, as well as doubling our use of recycled content. Where our materials come from is also important - we ensure, for example, that all the paper and cardboard we use is sustainably sourced and both materials can be made with high levels of recycled content
