Corporate and Social Responsibility - Nutrition Mission

Our dedication to healthier eating amongst consumers (whether at home, or out of home), is summed up by these three lead areas:

Positive Nutritional Balance

Healthy Lifestyles

Positive Nutritional Balance

With the government’s Foresight Report (1) predicting that 60% of men, 50% of women and 25% of children will be obese by 2050, the issue of nutrition is more important now than ever. Similarly it is now widely recognised that too much salt can be harmful and is associated with high blood pressure. The Food Standards Agency recommends that adults should be eating no more than 6g of salt a day, but it estimates that in the UK, 85% men and 69% women eat too much salt. (2)

It is essential that Birds Eye Foodservice is a leader in pioneering changes to improve the nutritional profile of its foods. We have had a long standing commitment to producing healthy, nutritious food. Our company nutritionist sets the standards and levels for the amount of certain nutrients in the food including:

• The amount of fat;
• The amount of saturated fat;
• The amount of salt; and
• What counts as one of five fruit and vegetables.

(1) Government Office for Science, Tackling Obesities: Future Choices, October 2007
(2) Food Standards Agency, Eat Well, Be Well, www.eatwell.gov.uk

Healthy Lifestyles

Healthy eating is vital for everyone but today’s busy lifestyles mean it can be a struggle for families to ensure that they are eating the right thing. This is particularly important for children who need a constant supply of vitamins, minerals and protein to grow into healthy adults. Birds Eye Foodservice is committed to helping consumers to get the healthy nutritious food that they need.

Freezing to lock in nutrients

Research has shown that levels of nutrients in some vegetables begin to drop as soon as they are picked which means that fresh vegetables can lose up to 40% of nutrients before they make it onto the plate. At Birds Eye Foodservice we freeze most of our vegetables within hours of being picked, ensuring that we not only lock in their great taste but also the vitamins.

Stripping out additives

We all think about what we eat these days and how it is produced.

Chemicals such as calcium sorbate (E203), hydrolysed vegetable protein and monosodium glutamate (E621) are just some of the ingredients commonly used to preserve or boost the flavour of many foods.

Consumers also often perceive frozen food as being somehow less natural than chilled, but the truth is that if you freeze food you do not need to add any additives to preserve it, which means that it can be much purer than chilled food. At Birds Eye Foodservice we have always been committed to healthy nutritious food. We found that preservatives, additives and artificial colourings and flavourings were increasingly being added to food and we wondered why. So we decided to have a big kitchen clear out and get rid of any unnecessary ingredients.

At Birds Eye Foodservice we believe in using ingredients that you could find in your chefs stores. This is why Birds Eye Foodservice food is preserved naturally by being frozen and we choose not to add any artificial colours or preservatives to our food.