Health and Nutrition Reporting

Resolution Text

RESOLVED, Shareholders request that the board annually publish a report, omitting proprietary information and prepared at reasonable cost, assessing the gap between Kraft Heinz’s current global nutrition reporting and reporting based on other, internationally recognized Nutrient Profiling Models (NPMs) conducted by independent third parties.

Supporting Statement:

In the board and management’s discretion, such an assessment should consider:

The ability of investors to compare company performance and reporting against that of its peers;
Inclusion of assessment of the proportion of positive nutrients, in addition to reducing the amount of negative nutrients; and
The extent of investor recognition of global models, such as the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI).

Whereas:

Kraft Heinz (Kraft) identifies ‘health and nutrition’ as a high priority issue in its ESG Materiality Assessment and identifies its “ability to refine the ingredient and nutrition profiles” of its products to meet changing consumer preferences as a risk factor and linked to its growth opportunity.[1] Kraft has committed to “improve product health and nutrition by achieving 85% compliance with Kraft Heinz Global Nutrition Targets by 2025.”[2] Currently, 71.8% of Kraft’s portfolio complies with this target.

However, there is no disclosure on whether, or to what extent, Kraft’s Global Nutrition Guidelines[3] align with internationally recognized nutrition standards, falling short of global investor expectations and making it difficult to evaluate company progress.

For instance, ATNI, the leading global nutrition benchmark endorsed by global investors with $21 trillion in assets under management,[4] analyzed over 2,750 Kraft products, representing 60-65% of global sales, in 2024 along three internationally recognized NPMs. ATNI found that 35% of Kraft’s sales-weighted products meet the Health Star Rating (HSR) threshold to be considered healthy, 13% meet Nutri-Score’s threshold, and 22% meet the UK’s NPM.[5] Kraft’s proportion of healthier sales and the sales-weighted average has shown no improvement from the 2018 and 2021 indices. Other third-party reports[6] demonstrate Kraft’s revenue dependency on unhealthy products when assessed against external NPMs.

To support harmonized reporting and comparability of portfolio healthiness across the sector, ATNI conducted research on the feasibility of aligning with internationally recognized NPMs.[7] Through surveys with industry members, including Kraft, investors, academia, and other participants, the study identified agreement in aligning with at least one of three NPMs – HSR, Nutri-Score, and the UK NPM.

Furthermore, 30% of peers[8], including Unilever and Danone, assess and report their portfolios against internationally recognized NPM standards. Failure to provide comparable, standardized nutrition reporting consistent with leading global assessments may contribute to outsized enterprise, legal, regulatory, and reputational risk for Kraft and its shareholders.

We therefore urge Kraft Heinz’s board to report on the gaps between internationally recognized NPMs and the company’s own nutrition assessment. Enhanced disclosure will enable investors to better understand the risk exposure of Kraft relative to its peers, and the aggregate risk of the sector associated with the externalized societal costs of less healthy foods.

[1]https://ir.kraftheinzcompany.com/static-files/ca6f46fd-1b6f-4c56-a32f-1403dcb552e6

[2]https://www.kraftheinzcompany.com/esg/pdf/KraftHeinz-2023-ESG-Report.pdf

[3]https://www.kraftheinzcompany.com/pdf/Kraft-Heinz-Global-Nutrition-Guidelines.pdf

[4]https://accesstonutrition.org/investor-signatories/

[5]https://accesstonutrition.org/index/global-access-to-nutrition-index/

[6]https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-023-00992-z#author-information

[7]https://accesstonutrition.org/app/uploads/2024/09/NPM-Alignment-Report-FINAL.pdf

[8]https://accesstonutrition.org/app/uploads/2024/11/ATNi_GI_executive_summary_final.pdf