Contributing to healthier and more sustainable food
With products consumed by 400 million people worldwide, Bel has a major role to play and has set itself the mission of providing healthier, more sustainable food for all. Our portions have a role to play in providing the right dose of nutrients. We have set ourselves an ambitious program of progress to improve the nutritional quality of our products, to consistently strive for naturalness, and to promote good eating habits.
CONSTANTLY IMPROVE THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF OUR PRODUCTS
Aware of current and future nutritional challenges, Bel contributes to meeting them by adapting and optimizing its recipes as part of a continuous improvement process. We rely on the advice of recognized international and local scientific experts and nutritionists.
In Algeria, Egypt and Morocco, we launched The Laughing Cow® 4 Essentials, with a recipe fortified with iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin A or D to contribute to the fight against deficiencies of these nutrients in children.
To assess the impact of this fortification on children’s nutritional intake, a study was carried out in Morocco with research teams from the University of Zaragoza. The results, published in 2023, show that one portion a day of The Laughing Cow® meets the nutritional requirements of Moroccan children in terms of iron, iodine and zinc.
Our aim is to gradually reduce the salt and fat content of our products, without compromising on taste, in order to meet the health challenges of the countries in which we operate.
In Europe, over the past 10 years, we have reduced the fat content of The Laughing Cow® by 25% and its salt content by 37%.
STRIVE FOR EVER GREATER NATURALNESS
Consumers are increasingly attentive to the contents of their plates and labels. To meet this need for naturalness, we began work over ten years ago with our Research & Development teams. The aim is to progressively reduce the number of additives and simplify our ingredient lists, without compromising on food safety and taste.
In Europe, we have developed a portioned Kiri® recipe that now contains only dairy ingredients, salt, water and lactic ferments.
We are very proud to have achieved by 2021 our goal set in 2018 of eliminating all artificial colors and flavors from all our core brands: The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Nurishh® and Boursin®.
Remaining attentive to our consumers’ needs, we have also expanded our range of organic products on our core brands (Mini Babybel® in 2018, The Laughing Cow® in 2019 and Kiri® in 2022).
Promote better eating habits
At Bel, we are committed to promoting good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle for children and families through our communication and the programs we support.
We have established a responsible nutrition communications charter to promote healthier consumption habits and ethical behavior in our communications. In 2016, Bel voluntarily signed the EU Pledge, committing to responsible communication with children.
As part of its Active Lifestyle project, Bel supports programs to promote good eating practices and a healthy lifestyle among children and families. We have defined a framework for long-term partnerships with NGOs* and government authorities.
By 2023, 8 countries had set up a program aimed at children and families.
In Africa, since 2018, the Eat Well Smile Bigger program run with the Ministry of Education and local nutritionists has benefited 11,500 schoolchildren to combat malnutrition. In the United States and Canada, the Group has also developed anti-obesity programs to raise awareness among thousands of children of the benefits of regular physical activity.
*Non-Governmental Organization
To go further…
Our commitments for 2025 :
90% of sales of branded recipes targeting children and families will be “positive”: i.e. either they meet Bel Nutri+ nutritional criteria, our internal nutritional profiling system based on WHO recommendations, or they contain 0 or 1 additive (today: 85%). Our goal is to implement nutritional awareness programs in 10 countries where Bel is present by 2025.