To support our customers to make healthier choices, we continue to make our own brand products healthier by reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat, and adding more vegetables and whole grains. We are working towards the voluntary reformulation targets set by the Australian Government’s Healthy Food Partnership, the New Zealand Heart Foundation’s HeartSAFE program, and our own internal nutrition standards set by our team of qualified nutritionists.
Last financial year, we removed 56 tonnes of salt(1), 391 tonnes of saturated fat(1) and 136 tonnes of sugar(1), and added 41 tonnes of whole grain(2) and 1,026 tonnes of vegetables(2) to Woolworths own brand products across Australia and New Zealand combined.
We continue to support our customers to make healthier choices through clear and transparent labelling and have introduced a number of voluntary commitments to ensure we market our own brand products responsibly.
- Woolworths displays the Health Star Rating (HSR) on all intended own brand products, using this tool to help drive positive reformulation and healthier product development.
- We have internal policies in place to ensure nutrition claims are used responsibly.
- When it comes to children, we have a commitment that by 2025, characters, graphics and activities that could be perceived as primarily appealing to children will only be used on healthier own brand packaging.
In 2023, Woolworths own brands were ranked the healthiest of the four major Australian retailers for the fifth year in a row, by The George Institute for Global Health based on mean Health Star Rating (HSR)(3). In The George Institute’s latest FoodSwitch: State of the Food Supply report, Woolworths was ranked as having the healthiest own brands, with an average HSR of 3.4 compared with other major supermarkets.
(1) Figures based on previous 12-month sales quantities prior to reformulation.
(2) Figures based on sales quantities for products launched in F23.
(3) The George Institute for Global Health’s FoodSwitch: State of the Food Supply report (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) based on mean Health Star Rating compared with Coles, Aldi and IGA.