Wal-Mart Shifts Strategy to Promote Healthy Foods

[Guest guest]

Wal-Mart<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/wal_mart_stores_i\

nc/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,

the nation’s largest retailer, will announce a five-year plan on Thursday to

make thousands of its packaged foods lower in unhealthy salts, fats and

sugars, and to drop prices on fruits and vegetables.

The initiative came out of discussions the company has been having

with

Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/michelle_obam\

a/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,

the first lady, who will attend the announcement in Washington and has made

healthy eating and reducing childhood

obesity<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/morbid-obesity/overview\

..html?inline=nyt-classifier>the

centerpiece of her agenda. Aides say it is the first time Mrs. Obama

has

thrown her support behind the work of a single company.

The plan, similar to efforts by other companies and to public health

initiatives by New York City, sets specific targets for lowering sodium, trans

fats<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/t/trans_fatty_\

acids/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and

added sugars in a broad array of foods — including rice, soups, canned

beans, salad dressings and snacks like potato chips — packaged under the

company’s house brand, Great Value.

In interviews previewing the announcement, Wal-Mart and White House

officials said the company was also pledging to press its major food

suppliers, like Kraft, to follow its example. Wal-Mart does not disclose how

much of its sales come from its house brand. But Kraft says about 16 percent

of its global sales are through Wal-Mart.

In addition, Wal-Mart will work to eliminate any extra cost to customers for

healthy foods made with whole grains, said Dach, Wal-Mart’s executive

vice president for corporate affairs. By lowering prices on fresh fruits and

vegetables, Wal-Mart says it will cut into its own profits but hopes to make

up for it in sales volume. “This is not about asking the farmers to accept

less for their crops,” he said.

The changes will be introduced slowly, over a period of five years, to give

the company time to overcome technical hurdles and to give consumers time to

adjust to foods’ new taste, Mr. Dach said. “It doesn’t do you any good to

have healthy food if people don’t eat it.”

Wal-Mart is hardly the first company to take such steps; ConAgra

Foods<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/conagra_foods_inc/in\

dex.html?inline=nyt-org>,

for example, has promised to reduce sodium content in its foods by 20

percent by 2015.

But because Wal-Mart sells more groceries than any other company in the

country, and because it is such a large purchaser of foods produced by

national suppliers,

nutrition<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/food-guide-pyrami\

d/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>experts

say the changes could have a big impact on the affordability of

healthy food and the health of American families and children.

Some say the company has almost as much power as federal regulators to shape

the marketplace.

“A number of companies have said they are going to make voluntary reductions

in sodium over the next several years, and numerous companies have said they

are going to try to get trans fat out of their food,” said son,

executive director of Center for Science in the Public

Interest<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/cen\

ter_for_science_in_the_public_interest/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.

“But Wal-Mart is in a position almost like the Food and Drug

Administration<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations\

/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org>.

I think it really pushes the food industry in the right direction.”

But Wal-Mart is pushing only so far. The company’s proposed sugar reductions

are “much less aggressive” than they could be, Mr. son said, noting

that Wal-Mart is not proposing to tackle the problem of added sugars in soft

drinks, which experts regard as a major contributor to childhood obesity.

And he said it would be “nice if Wal-Mart’s timeline were speedier” than

five years.

Wal-Mart has been planning the initiative for more than a year; the effort

was in its early stages when Ms. Obama joined it. The first lady’s

appearance with Mr. Dach and other Wal-Mart executives when they make the

announcement at a community center in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood on

Thursday morning is out of the ordinary and a prominent effort by the

administration to spur further moves toward healthier food.

“We’re not just aligning ourselves with one company; we’re aligning

ourselves with people who are stepping up as leaders to take this country to

a healthier place,” said Sam Kass, the White House chef who doubles as Mrs.

Obama’s top adviser on matters of nutrition.

“There’s no qualms about that,” Mr. Kass said. “The only question that we

have is do we think this is a significant step in that direction, and do we

think there is a method in place to track progress, and do we think this

will have the impact we are pushing for.”

Over the last year, Mr. Kass and other aides to the first lady have spent

countless hours in meetings with company officials; both Mr. Kass and Mr.

Dach said Mrs. Obama pushed the company to hold itself accountable by

issuing public progress reports. The Partnership for a Healthier America, a

nonprofit organization that works with the first lady on her Let’s Move

initiative to reduce childhood obesity, will monitor the company’s progress.

The changes will not happen overnight. Wal-Mart is pledging to reduce sodium

by 25 percent, eliminate industrially added trans fats and reduce added

sugars by 10 percent by 2015. Its other plans are less specific. In addition

to proposing to lower prices on healthy foods, Wal-Mart is planning to

develop criteria, and ultimately a seal, that will go on truly healthier

foods, as measured by their sodium, fat and sugar content.

The company says it will also address the problem of “food deserts” — a

dearth of grocery stores selling fresh produce in rural and underserved

urban areas like Anacostia — by building more stores. And it will increase

charitable contributions for nutrition programs.

A range of studies has shown that low-income people, especially those who

receive food stamps, face special dietary challenges because eating healthy

costs more and healthier food is harder to get in their neighborhoods.

D. Weill, president of Food Research and Action Center, an organization that

has discussed the problem with Wal-Mart, said the company recognized “how

much hunger and food insecurity there is in the country.”

Mr. Dach said the lower prices and food reformulations were motivated by the

demands of Wal-Mart’s own customers. He said the company believed that, if

it was successful, the price reductions would save Americans who shop at

Wal-Mart approximately $1 billion a year on fresh fruits and vegetables

alone.

“Our customers have always told us, ’We don’t understand why whole wheat

macaroni and cheese costs more than regular macaroni and cheese,’ ” Mr. Dach

said, adding, “We’ve always said that we don’t think the Wal-Mart shopper

should have to choose between a product that is healthier for them and what

they can afford.”

Mr. son, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said that

reducing sodium was the trickiest of the food reformulation challenges.

Sodium is in every food category, and it is more difficult to replace than

the partly hydrogenated oil that composes trans fats, or than sugars,

because there are easy substitutes for oils and sugars. But sodium, which

contributes to

hypertension<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/hypertension/overvi\

ew.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and

raises the risk of heart disease, must simply be reduced, which can

greatly alter taste.

Mr. Dach said the company had yet to conquer its reformulation challenges,

and described the goals as both aspirational and realistic. “We think it’s a

realistic target, but it’s aspirational in the sense that we can’t tell you

today how it’s all going to get done,” he said.

LINK<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/business/20walmart.html?pagewanted=2 & _r=2\

& src=busln>

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Ortiz, MS, RD

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