By Karina Zimerfeld, Global Vice President of R&D, Mars Food & Nutrition
Imagine a world where every meal you eat is not only delicious, but also nutritious and accessible. At Mars Food & Nutrition, a Mars, Incorporated business segment, we're making this a reality. And I’m privileged to lead a group of experts, scientists and nutrition professionals who are just as passionate as I am about helping more people easily access healthy, tasty and convenient food.
Our mission is clear: Provide better food today for a better world tomorrow. Accordingly, we’re on a bold path to deliver 5.5 billion healthy meals per year by 2025. This ambitious goal includes providing four billion servings of vegetables, increasing fiber servings by 30%, and reducing sodium by 5% by 2025. Our Mars Food Nutrition Criteria guides our approach to provide healthier food and meet these commitments. It also helps us track the nutritional composition of our portfolio over time, allowing consumers to enjoy healthier meals. Our ambition is to ensure that 95% of our products will meet our Criteria’s standards by 2025.
Here are some recent examples of how we’ve brought this to life:
- We’ve recently launched a range of ready meals: Ben’s Original™ Street Food in the U.S. and Canada and Ben’s Original™ Lunch Bowls and Favourites in the U.K. These convenient and delicious options are packed with fiber and protein, making them the perfect satisfying dish for busy schedules. They are also a versatile choice for lunches, quick dinners and late-night cravings.
- Our Dolmio® Intensify pasta sauces include three levels of intensity, from mild to fiery, offering variety for every palette and mood. Dolmio® tomato sauces contribute to your daily vegetable intake and, as with all the Dolmio® sauces we know and love, the Intensify ranges have no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.
- Our Ben’s Original™ Plant Powered line offers meat-free versions of popular recipes, perfect for those pursuing a flexitarian diet. These products pair nicely with our ready-to-heat rice range, making plant-based eating both easy and delicious.
- Our Seeds of Change Super Grains dishes feature super grains like sorghum, millet, quinoa, amaranth and wheat berries. They add a variety of whole grains high in fiber to support a balanced diet.
These products have helped us make great progress on reaching our commitments. In 2023, we delivered 3.1 billion healthy meals and incorporated 346 million servings of vegetables and 120 million servings of fiber into our products. We also achieved a 5.1% reduction in sodium (versus our 2019 baseline) across our core portfolio.
Through our innovative products, we’re enhancing the nutritional quality of our portfolio, all while ensuring they’re not just delicious, but also ready in minutes, straight from the pantry.
I’m incredibly excited about what’s next and look forward to sharing more of our progress with you. Here’s to a future where every meal is a step toward a better world for generations to come.
