As a global foodservice company, we recognise that we have an enormous impact on what our 20 million daily consumers choose to eat and drink. Our positive contribution to their diet and nutrition is our most significant impact and we are proud of the role we play in promoting health, wellness and nutrition, particularly as in many of the markets where we operate, the meal we provide may be the only nutritious meal eaten by our consumers that day.
We are working closely with our clients (and through them with our consumers), suppliers, governments and regulators across the globe to respond to public health issues such as those associated with obesity and diet. Our consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated about the nutritional content of their food choices and during 2009 we have continued to roll out our healthy eating framework, ‘Balanced Choices’, to enhance nutritional labelling across our food product range, providing consumers with the information that they need to make informed choices. More than 830 units (2008: 750 units) in the UK and over 2,000 units (2008: over 1,750 units) in the US are now qualified to operate ‘Balanced Choices’.
Compass is already committed to lead the way in the foodservice industry in understanding the needs of consumers and is at the forefront of providing nutritional information. This year, our UK business has pledged support for the UK Food Standard Agency’s programme of introducing calorie labelling at the point of consumer choice. Since January 2009, point of sale material for our ‘Core Concepts’ menu range has provided calorific values per meal, as well as information on sugar, fat, saturates and salt in an easy to understand Guideline Daily Amounts (‘GDA’)/traffic light combination, in over 1,300 workplaces. In addition, the UK business has developed its own range of sandwiches and other bakery products with levels of saturated fat and salt that meet the UK Food Standard Agency’s targets. By working with suppliers, our UK business has reduced the amount of saturated fats in its own label cooking sauces by 80%, and has also sourced a new cooking oil which is virtually free of trans fatty acids.
