PepsiCo foods and drinks are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times each day in more than 200 countries and territories. Over the last decade, we’ve made many recipe changes to reduce sodium, saturated fat and added sugars. A few years ago, when we announced our broader PepsiCo Positive (pep+) transformation, we made three bold nutrition targets, to be met by 20251, core to our agenda. Each step has been crucial in our journey to offer more positive choices to our consumers.
I’m proud of what’s been done. For a start, we surpassed our saturated fat goal four years ahead of schedule. As of 2022, more than half of our beverage portfolio volume meets our added sugars target2. Plus, the majority of our convenient foods portfolio volume already meets the 2025 sodium target3.
Having made this progress, we are ready to take the next step on our nutrition journey by announcing new goals to reduce sodium and to deliver more diverse ingredients in our foods.
Setting new sodium targets
We are determined to ensure PepsiCo leads the way in setting science-backed sodium reduction goals. According to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the sodium intake in daily diets from savory snacks is currently around 3%. And, while that may be a small percentage, we want to ensure we do even more to improve the nutrition profile of our products.
Our ambitions are to align with the dietary guidelines of respected authorities. So, as part of our strategy, we considered guidance from public health institutions like the World Health Organization (WHO).
By 2030, our aim is to ensure at least 75% of our global convenient foods portfolio volume meet or are below category sodium targets.
We’ve already made headway. You can see the evolution in our extended or newly introduced product lines — Walkers 45% Reduced Sodium Crisps in the U.K., Lightly Salted products from Lay’s, Fritos, and Tostitos in the U.S. In Colombia, Natuchips combine two R&D innovations: smaller salt particles and healthier oils that deliver less sodium and saturated fat while balancing the sweet and savory flavor from plantains.
Our consumers can expect to see more progress with many of our most iconic foods. For example, with our U.S. Lay’s Classic Potato Chips we are aiming for a further 15% sodium reduction, which would result in a sodium level of 140mg per 28g serving. The WHO recommends less than 2000mg of sodium per day for adults.
Increasing diverse ingredients
“Diverse ingredients” are food groups and ingredients — such as legumes, whole grains, plant-based protein, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds — that people don’t consume enough of in many countries. In the U.S., less than 10% of people eat enough whole grains and only 50% meet the recommended servings of plant-based protein foods, like nuts, seeds and soy products.
We want to make these ingredients more available to our consumers by announcing a quantitative goal to use more diverse ingredients in our products.
By 2030, we aim to deliver 145 billion portions of diverse ingredients annually in our global convenient foods portfolio. Each portion will provide approximately 10% of the suggested daily amount of a diverse ingredient4.
Guiding the next steps in our journey
The journey to meet our goals is powered by our best-in-class R&D organization of more than 2,600 associates located in 13 global hubs across PepsiCo. This team uses its expertise in nutrition, culinary arts, recipe development, agriculture science, and more to improve the nutritional quality of our products, without compromising taste. It’s a remarkable effort.
Here’s an inside look at our portfolio transformation journey:
It’s not only about numbers and percentages; it’s very personal and comes down to the choices people make. We love that people love our foods and drinks. They are fun and taste great. Our aim is to make the positive choice the easy choice.
1At least 75% of our convenient foods portfolio volume should not exceed 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie; at least 67% of our beverage portfolio volume should have ≤100 Calories from added sugars per 12 ounce serving; and at least 75% of our convenient foods portfolio volume should not exceed 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 100 Calories.
2 Based on our Top 26 Beverage markets, which as of 2022, represented 78% of our global beverages volume.
3 Based on our Top 23 Convenient Foods markets, which as of 2022, represented 86% of our global convenient foods volume. Results reflect exclusion of Be & Cheery portfolio.
4 Based on published dietary guidelines for select counties, WHO Healthy Diet Fact Sheet, and Eat Lancet Planetary Healthy Diet report.