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ATNi releases its fifth Global Access to Nutrition Index
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Thursday, 14 November, 2024, 14 : 00 PM [IST]
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Utrecht, The Netherlands
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ATNi launched its 5th edition of the Global Access to Nutrition Index, assessing the world’s 30 largest food and beverage manufacturers and over 52,000 products, representing 23% of the global market share.
One in five deaths globally is associated with a poor diet. One out of eight adults are obese, 150 million children are too short for their age because of poor nutrition, and close to a third of women of reproductive age, and half of children, consume inadequate micronutrients.
The Index shows important progress: more companies are now setting targets to improve portfolio health, using internationally recognised Nutrient Profiling Models (NPMs), to classify products as ‘healthier’.
However, overall, there has been little to no improvement in key metrics such as healthiness of product portfolios. At the same time, the estimated sales values of company’s healthier products have increased, showing consumers are increasingly purchasing healthier products. Worryingly, product portfolio healthiness was found to be lowest in low-income countries, highlighting disparities in product offerings across different markets and income groups.
The Global Access to Nutrition Index has been warmly welcomed by a broad audience, including governmental organisations and non-profit sector.
Anneliese Dodds, UK Minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said, “Families around the world are struggling with poor nutrition and the food industry’s role is critical. We support the Access to Nutrition initiative as they help the sector improve the healthiness of its products and make nutritious foods accessible to all.”
Lawrence Haddad, executive director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), said, “Once again, this ATNi global report provides the most authoritative assessment of the nutrition performance of the large food and drink companies. The good news is that the companies as a group are improving in terms of their healthy food offerings. The bad news is that progress is slow and from a low base. At the current pace the companies will only get to a 50% of their products being healthy by 2036. Given that diet is the main global risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality, companies have to do better, as do governments who need to put incentives and regulations in place to speed up this transition to better health for all.”
Jessica Fanzo, professor of Climate, director of the Food for Humanity Initiative, Climate School, Columbia University, said, “Only 31% of the 51,000+ food products assessed by ATNi meet the health criteria. This is not good enough. Companies need to start doing better demonstrating that they care about the public health of their consumer base.”
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