Italian pasta and sauce company, Barilla, has reformulated 219 products in the last five years, reducing the levels of sugar, fat, and salt, while increasing fiber and whole grain flours. In response to increasing global consumer demand, Barilla reduced the level of total fats and saturated fats in 73 products and salt in 15 products. Since 2012, the company has introduced 28 new whole grain products. With global trends for healthier snacking, especially for children, the industry has been working on finding solutions to these challenges, but the journey has not been easy. For example, for many of the bakery products, the very question relies on certain ingredients to give the correct texture in terms of crispiness and mouthfeel, as well as ensuring the shelf life of the product without oxidation
The top challenge to find more solutions for salt, fat, and sugar reduction – Currently, 85% of Barilla products are in line with the nutritional recommendations from the science community. However, according to the company’s most recent Sustainability report, last year, Barilla tripled the share of strategic raw materials purchased from responsible supply chains (from 6% to 18%) and it is committed to reaching 100% by 2020. In 2015, Barilla involved more than 1,300 farms in the ‘Sustainable Durum Wheat’ Project, purchasing as much as 140,000 tonnes of sustainable durum wheat. This ambitious project is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and production costs by up to 30%, and increasing production yields by up to 20%. Water consumption has been reduced by 19%, while greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of product have decreased 23%.