Coca-Cola Takes Industry Lead in Upfront Labelling

Media Release
29 August 2006

Embargoed Till 11am – 29 August 2006

Coca-Cola Takes Industry Lead in Upfront Labelling

Coca-Coca today announced a significant nutrition labelling initiative to help every New Zealander make sensible dietary choices.

For the first time the number of kilojoules will appear on the front of all
Coca-Cola’s range of drinks, including regular and diet soft drinks, juices, energy drinks and sports drinks.

The at-a-glance information will tell consumers exactly how much each product contributes to the average recommended daily kilojoule intake as set out in the New Zealand Dietary Guidelines.

Nutritional information on the back of all beverage labels will also be improved.

The percent daily intake per serve for the six key nutrients – protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars and sodium – will feature on the reverse.

Coca-Cola Oceania’s Managing Director Geert Broos said the new labels were designed to empower New Zealanders with the facts to make the best choices for their health and wellbeing.

“There’s a great deal of misinformation in the market about how much energy different food and drinks provide. This will help provide simple information to help people work out their energy intake for the day and balance this with the physical exercise they do.

“We have listened to various stakeholders on this issue and believe we can provide the nutrition information consumers want in a more meaningful, user-friendly and visible way,” he said.

The new labelling is set to start hitting supermarket shelves early next year.

“Existing label stocks will sell through and allow for the new packaging to be phased in across our range of more than 80 products over a period of time,” Mr Broos said.

The improved nutrition labelling is another way in which The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Amatil (NZ) Ltd are delivering on commitments made in the NZ Food Industry Accord. Responsible communication to promote healthy eating is a specific action point in the Accord.

Broos is hoping Coca-Cola’s commitment to the labelling initiative would encourage other manufacturers to follow suit.

“We believe all manufacturers of food and drinks should adopt percent recommended dietary intake (RDI) so New Zealanders have the facts to make informed choices and balance their diets,” he said.

The new labelling is part of a national education campaign, ‘Make Every Drop Matter’, that will be providing information via magazine advertisements, free information brochures available via 0800 505 123 and an online resource centre www.makeeverydropmatter.co.nz .
Ends

‘Coca-Cola’ and ‘Make Every Drop Matter’ are registered trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company.

For further information contact:
Alison Sykora, Region Corporate Affairs Manager, Coca-Cola Oceania, 021 567 106

For a print quality copy of what the new labelling will look like please contact Donnell Alexander, Network PR at donnell.alexander@networkpr.com

Note to news editors

What the new labels will include
Front-of-pack labelling will feature a clear statement of the kilojoules per serving, along with the percent RDI these kilojoules represent.

Back-of-pack labelling will contain three elements:
1. List of nutrients (energy, protein, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fibre, sodium)
2. Nutrition information per serving, in addition to the required 100g/100ml
3. Percent RDI for six nutrients - energy, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugars, sodium

RDI
Percentage daily intakes are based on an average adult diet of 8700kJ. Daily intakes may be higher or lower depending upon individual energy needs.

Serving sizes
Packages for individual consumption will be deemed to be a single serve for the purposes of the new labelling.

Multi-serve packaging will provide nutrition information based on a 250ml serve (one glass equivalent).

About Coca-Cola in New Zealand

Together, Coca-Cola Amatil (NZ) Ltd and Coca-Cola Oceania manufacture, market and distribute more than 80 beverage brands and flavours in New Zealand. These include soft drinks, diet drinks, juices and juice drinks, cordials, waters, sports drinks and energy drinks.

Coca-Cola Amatil is the authorized bottler of The Coca-Cola Company’s products in New Zealand. The two companies employ more than 1,000 people and CCA has plants in Auckland, Christchurch and Putaruru.

ENDS

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