Healthy living

• On this page:
• Our approach
• Developing insight
• Sharing best practices
• Objectives
• Making it easy to choose healthy products
• Providing customers information and education
• Employee health and wellness programs

Our approach

We want to make a positive contribution to the health of our customers, employees and other stakeholders by offering healthy choices in our assortment as well as information, activities, and educational resources promoting the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Healthy living is one of the most vital elements in our vision of how to operate as a socially responsible company. Our companies are committed to providing healthier product alternatives, expert advice and innovative shopping experiences that inspire our customers to make healthy choices. As a food provider, we see significant opportunities to further develop our approach to healthy living in a way that benefits customers while differentiating our offering and strengthening our brands.

Developing insight

Our companies have always provided quality, variety (including a wide range of healthy choices) and information to our customers. In the 1980s, ICA had already put in place a healthy product labeling system that later formed one of the fundamentals of a nationwide standard adopted by the Swedish government.

At the start of the new millennium, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the impact of an unhealthy lifestyle was one of the main threats facing the world, and brought awareness around the globe to a problem our companies were already starting to address.

We are bringing together experts from both inside and outside the company to share insight on how we can contribute to promoting healthy lifestyles. We now work closely with universities, industry bodies, expert scientists and nutritionists to find ways to provide healthy choices based on scientific research, technological advances and good social practices.

Sharing best practices

In 2004, Ahold's healthy living team, made up of experts from across the company, was officially formed. Today, the team helps Ahold make the most of its internal expertise and creates broad programs that our operating companies can adapt for their local consumers.

ICA, with its years of experience in healthy product labeling, and Giant-Carlisle, with a long history of consumer education, served as Ahold's best practice leaders in the area of healthy living. Albert Heijn, using knowledge from these operating companies along with the power of its brand, was able to accelerate the implementation process in the Netherlands.

Objectives

In 2007, our healthy living team formalized an Ahold-wide strategy for healthy living. Our overall objective is to achieve a high awareness of healthy living among our stakeholders, and in this way promote healthier choices and, eventually, lifestyle shifts towards healthier habits. We have agreed to focus on activities that fall under three categories:

1. Making it easy to choose healthy products.
2. Expand education and information towards customers to motivate for a healthy lifestyle.
3. Roll-out employee health and wellness programs.

Making it easy to choose healthy products

As a retailer, we have a unique opportunity to interact with customers in our stores. We help them make healthy choices through the range of products we carry, the services and information we provide, and the way we present our offering. > read more

Providing customers information and education

Our companies provide a wide range of information resources, services and educational opportunities to help customers and employees make healthy choices. Customer magazines, websites, in-store computers and nutritional advisors are just some of the ways we offer customers advice on healthy living. > read more

Employee health and wellness programs

We provide healthy working environments for our employees and are committed to ensuring our suppliers are doing the same. We work to promote health in the communities we serve.

We have introduced health and wellness programs for employees at our Corporate Center and our operating companies to help them address problems ranging from obesity and being overweight to tobacco and alcohol addiction. We are continually improving how we motivate employees to make choices that positively affect their health, for example, sponsoring sporting events, athletic facilities and groups such as Weight Watchers (for weight management). Often, we link these efforts to special causes that our employees are interested in, sponsoring walks, marathons and other physical activities that raise money to support deserving organizations in the communities we serve.