Company commitments on nutrition and sustainability: A three-country comparison

Abstract Background The Business Impact Assessment (BIA) tools were developed by INFORMAS to document companies’ commitments on population nutrition (BIA-Obesity) and environmental sustainability (BIA-Sustainability). As part of the EU-funded Food Systems that Support Transitions to Healthy and Sustainable Diets (FEAST) project, we used the BIA-Obesity and BIA-Sustainability to map the public commitments of a range of national and international food companies active in Belgium, Ireland, and Portugal. Methods We selected companies (Belgium n = 37; Ireland n = 39; Portugal n = 36) across the packaged food, soft drinks, quick service restaurant, grocery retailers, infant formula, and catering industries. Selection was based primarily on the companies’ market shares in each country, but minor adaptations were made to enable comparison of findings between the countries. We searched each company’s website, annual reports, and other public sources, logging all commitments relevant to the domains of the BIAs. Domains and criteria were adapted to reflect the regulatory and legislative environment in each country. Results In all three countries, commitments on sustainability were significantly stronger than those on nutrition, though still falling short of best practice. Within sustainability, commitments found in Belgium and Portugal were significantly stronger than those found in Ireland. Nutrition-related commitments were more consistent across the three countries, with companies in Ireland and Portugal showing the highest-scoring commitments in relation to product formulation. Conclusions Companies across all industry sectors and countries fall short of best practices, with a stronger commitments to environmental sustainability than to tackling obesity and non-communicable diseases. These results underscore the critical necessity for more ambitious government regulations at both European and national levels. Key messages • Critical necessity for government regulations at both European and national levels to adress environmental and nutritional challenges. • Industry need stronger commitments to tackling obesity and non-communicable diseases.