Britannia is the first company to remove Transfats from its biscuits

Company Brief

Pune, February 12, 2009

Britannia, one of India’s most trusted food brands, caters to consumers in all demographic and socio-economic segments across urban and rural India, through every day food like bakery and dairy products. Biscuits straddle nutrition, delight and convenience benefits and reach over 90% of all households in the country. Biscuits are consumed as healthy in-between meal fillers and make very effective energy providers (100 gm of most of Britannia biscuits provide around 10-15% of energy, proteins, required by an adult). The fortified range of products also provides vitamins, Iron & Calcium.

Britannia innovates for strong presence in health and nutrition space

Living up to its credo “Eat Healthy Think Better” and meeting the needs of today’s consumers who like health and taste to co-exist in the food they eat, Britannia has been actively addressing health and nutrition through removal of unhealthy content (transfats) as well as addition of nutrients through fortification.

a. Removal of Transfats

Transfats produced during hydrogenation & refining of oil are particularly harmful to health as they can increase bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol. During the last decade conclusive scientific evidence has linked the consumption of industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFAs) with alterations of metabolism of blood lipids, vascular inflammation and the development of cardio-vascular diseases. Recommendations of international agencies like WHO (World Health Organisation) & PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation) have urged for the replacement of trans fatty acids in manufactured food with unsaturated fat.

Recognizing the changing global trends & health benefits of removing transfats, Britannia is the first Bakery brand in India to remove transfats from its products. Almost all the baked products in its portfolio are manufactured without transfats which include all its power brands Tiger, Milk Bikis, MarieGold, Treat, 50-50, Good Day regular range , Nutrichoice and Little Hearts. In the last 18 months, Britannia has removed around 8,500 tonnes of transfat from its products and moved around 56,000 tonnes of HVO to vegetable oil usage.

This initiative is aligned to its corporate view of removal/minimisation of ingredients that may be potentially harmful to health, along with the challenge of retaining sensory attributes. Despite manufacturing challenges, Britannia has been able to stabilize vegetable oils in bakery format without adversely impacting the taste.

Additionally, realizing the need for consumer education on transfats, Britannia has initiated basic transfat consumer education on brands like Marie Gold & Nutrichoice, which target adults. Britannia will continue to focus its efforts on consumer education through declaration on product labels and media.

Transfat & it’s impact on health?

Partial hydrogenation, the process used to increase shelf-life of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) / vegetable oils creates trans fatty acids. Many studies have demonstrated that trans fatty acids increase the clot forming tendency much more than saturated fats, by not only increasing LDL cholesterol to similar levels but also by decreasing the high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, (which is the good cholesterol). Several studies have found that intake of non natural trans fatty acids increases the risk of coronary heart disease Most trans fatty acids are contributed by industrially hardened oils. Even though trans fatty acids have been reduced or eliminated from retail fats and spreads in many parts of the world, generally available deep-fried foods and baked goods are a major and increasing source.

b. Addition of Nutrients through Fortification

- Launch of Tiger Banana Biscuits Fortified with Iron

- Launch of Tiger Iron Zor

- Smart-Nutrient Fortified Milk Bikis

- Britannia’s range of breads has been fortified with 10 vital vitamins.

For further information, please contact:

Madison Public Relations

Rajani Singh

Tel: + 91 22 6654 8341

Email: rajani@fort.madisonindia.com