Approach

We have set goals, considering guidance from public health authorities including the WHO, to help consumers reduce the amount of sodium in their diets. Our goal, as part of our pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) ambition, is that by 2025, at least three-quarters of our global foods portfolio sales volume will not exceed 1.3 milligrams of sodium per Calorie and by 2030, at least three-quarters of our global convenient foods portfolio volume will meet or be below category sodium targets.

Our approach to managing sodium within our foods portfolio is guided by PepsiCo’s Nutrition Criteria. These science-based criteria are based on recommendations for diet and nutrient intake from leading global and national nutrition authorities including the WHO, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Academy of Medicine and national public health authorities.

To respond to global consumers’ nutritional needs and the policy and regulatory environment, we are exploring sodium-reduction techniques that will allow us to meet all of our consumers’ taste expectations of our products. This includes continuing to advance and apply a range of technologies to enhance flavor while reducing a product’s overall sodium content.

Our nutrition goals, including those on sodium, are primarily executed by our Research and Development team, who leads product development work. Nutrition ambitions are set by a broad cross-functional internal group.

Progress

In 2022, we reformulated products around the world, including the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, India, Colombia and Germany and by the end of 2022, 68% of our convenient foods sales volume in our Top 23 global markets (representing 86% of our global convenient foods volume) met our goal to reach sodium levels that do not exceed 1.3 mg per Calorie.¹ This was an improvement from 66% in our Top 23 global markets at the end of 2021. In 2023, we launched a new goal to reduce sodium in our global convenient foods portfolio, considering the latest guidance from public health authorities including the WHO. New PepsiCo global sodium targets have been set across 30 food categories, listed below, from hot cereals to potato and vegetable chips to tortilla chips. The category targets are approximately 15-30% lower than the company's current target for key convenient food categories.

Strategic partnerships

We have also formed an agreement with Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), an organization that works with the private sector to help improve the health of youth in the United States by addressing childhood obesity, to conduct an independent review of our progress against our sodium goal. The first year of this review was conducted in relation to 2016 data. Most recently, this review, covering 2022 SKU level data of products in our Top 23 global convenient food markets, confirmed the accuracy of our calculations and the reliability of the methodology we use to make those calculations. We plan to continue conducting independent reviews of the data and methodology, in order to drive transparency around this important goal.

What's next?

The lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, paired with deadly conflict in Ukraine, has increased pressure on food poverty and diet quality. However, PepsiCo anticipates that efforts will continue unabated within the food industry to improve the nutritional quality of products and support consumers in making Positive Choices.