LP5 Assignment: Quality Improvement Initiative

Walmart Launches Major Initiative to Make Food Healthier And Healthier Food More Affordable

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 20, 2011 – At an event today in Washington, D.C., Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, unveiled a comprehensive effort to provide its customers with healthier and more affordable food choices. Here are five key elements of that program:
1. Reformulating thousands of everyday packaged food items by 2015 by reducing sodium 25 percent and added sugars 10 percent, and by removing all remaining industrially produced trans fats;
2. Making healthier choices more affordable, saving customers approximately $1 billion per year on fresh fruits and vegetables through a variety of sourcing, pricing, and transportation and logistics initiatives that will drive unnecessary costs out of the supply chain;
3. Developing strong criteria for a simple front-of-package seal that will help consumers instantly identify truly healthier food options;
4. Providing solutions to address food deserts by building stores in underserved communities that are in need of fresh and affordable groceries; and
5. Increasing charitable support for nutrition programs that help educate consumers about healthier food solutions and choices.
“No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford,” said Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart U.S.
Wal-Mart will reformulate key product categories of its Great Value private brand and collaborate with suppliers to reformulate national brands within the same categories by 2015. The reformulation initiative includes three components:
• Reduce sodium by 25 percent
• Reduce added sugars by 10 percent
• Remove all remaining industrially produced trans fats Wal-Mart’s everyday low price business model will help make healthier food more affordable. The company will take a number of steps to provide customers even more savings on fresh produce through a variety of sourcing, pricing, and transportation and logistics initiatives that will drive efficiencies throughout the supply chain and further reduce unnecessary costs. For example, one initiative will establish more direct relationships with farmers, which typically result in additional income for farmers and lower and more consistent prices for customers.
Wal-Mart will continue to expand in the U.S., we are focused on developing new formats and new approaches that will offer underserved communities fresh and affordable food options where they are needed most. Wal-Mart will also reformulate key product categories of its Great Value private brand and collaborate with suppliers to reformulate national brands within the same categories by 2015.