Kraft Foods announce leap in profits

US concern Kraft Foods Inc has announced a massive leap in profits of 41% up to US $ 1.0 bn. Net sales totalled US$ 8.1 bn (+0.8%). Organic growth was 3.6%. According to the media, the Ferrara Pan Candy Company has secured exclusive US distribution rights for established European Kraft brands such as Toblerone,Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Milka and Côte d’Or. These labels considerably extend the Ferrara Pan range which up until now consisted of Lemonhead,Red Hots and Black Forest Gummies.
Results of European nutrition and exercise study published. Over two thirds of Europeans know that in order to stay healthy they should eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly. Nevertheless every third European is overweight and every fifth obese. These are some of the findings of a representative study carried out by Kraft Foods together with the market research institute GfK NOP. It surveyed groups of 500 people in Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden regarding nutrition and exercise. “We carried out this study in order to find out about the eating habits of European consumers, to ascertain what they know about nutrition and to discover more about their lifestyle,” said Dr Gerd Harzer, Senior Director International Nutrition at Kraft Foods.“The results have shown that we need broad public debate on the subject of how to get people to put their theoretical knowledge into practice.”
Lack of problem awareness and lack of exercise
Most of those asked identify being overweight as a public health problem, but not one affecting them personally. Being overweight or obese ranked only fifth and ninth respectively in a list of personal health risks.This could explain why most of those surveyed said they did not exercise enough. Almost three quarters said they had too little exercise. The worst figures were recorded in Germany,where only 21% exercise regularly compared with the European average of 42%. 22% of the Germans taking part in the survey were obese – 4% more than the average for Europe.
Common strategy for a balanced way of life
The results of the study show that joint efforts undertaken by government, industry, interest groups and the media in order to combat obesity must be kept up. Dr Harzer went on to say:”Consumers already know about nutrition so we can take that as a foundation to build on. In addition we have to increase awareness of the personal,individual risks constituted by being overweight or obese.”