Retailers, NGOs and Food and Beverage Industry Launch National Initiative to Help Reduce Obesity

Retailers, NGOs and Food and Beverage Industry Launch National Initiative to
Help Reduce Obesity

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Seeks to Encourage Behavior Change and
Provide Tools to Help Consumers Achieve Energy Balance in the Marketplace, in
the Workplace and in Schools

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An unprecedented coalition of
more than 40 retailers, non-governmental organizations and food and beverage
manufacturers today announced the launch of the Healthy Weight Commitment
Foundation, a national, multi-year effort designed to help reduce obesity --
especially childhood obesity -- by 2015. The Healthy Weight Commitment
Foundation will promote ways to help people achieve a healthy weight through
energy balance. It focuses on three critical areas -- the marketplace, the
workplace and schools.

"The stakeholders involved in this commitment recognize that by working
together we can make a real difference on the obesity issue in our country,"
said David Mackay, president and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company
and chairman of the board of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. "We are
united in an unprecedented, collaborative and focused effort to help children
and adults achieve better energy balance between calories in and calories
out."

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation will promote the concept of energy
balance -- balancing calories consumed as part of a healthy diet with calories
expended by physical activity -- to people in the places where they spend much
of their time: to consumers in the marketplace, to employees through workplace
programs and to children in schools.

Members of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation have already committed $20
million to this joint initiative to raise awareness about the importance of
balancing a healthy diet with physical activity, particularly among children
ages six to 11 years old and their parents and caregivers. This effort will
include a soon-to-be announced national public education campaign on energy
balance.

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation efforts include:
-- Connecting with Consumers in the Marketplace: Participating companies
are committing to build on existing efforts and will be making changes
to their products, packaging and labeling to make it easier for
consumers to manage their calorie intake while preserving or enhancing
overall nutrition quality. Specific options companies may undertake
include product reformulation and innovation; providing smaller
portions; redesigning packaging and labeling; placing calorie
information on the front of products; providing consumers with
information and educational materials; and in-store promotion of the
initiative. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will support an
independent, objective evaluation of the marketplace initiative.
Results
from that evaluation will be publicly reported.
-- Empowering Employees in the Workplace: Participating companies will
undertake new or enhance existing programs to help employees achieve
and
maintain a healthy weight. This may include providing calorie
information and healthier food and beverage options in cafeterias,
vending machines and break rooms; providing access to exercise at work
through individual and group activities; offering weight management
programs; and implementing tools to track progress, like health risk
appraisals. The impact of the workplace efforts will be evaluated by
the
National Business Group on Health. Best practices will be shared with
employers so they may be replicated.

-- Creating Healthy Habits in Schools: The Healthy Weight Commitment
Foundation will expand the successful Healthy Schools Partnership to
additional schools in Kansas City, Des Moines, Washington, D.C.,
Chicago
and a tribal community in Iowa. This expansion follows a successful
pilot in Kansas City. The Healthy Schools Partnership integrates
nutrition education and physical education through a school-based
curriculum to help children develop lifelong positive healthy habits.
The Healthy Schools Partnership was developed by the American Council
for Fitness and Nutrition Foundation, PE4life and the American
Dietetic
Association Foundation. The Healthy School Partnership is being
evaluated by the University of California at Berkeley, Center for
Weight
and Health.

"The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation has the potential to make a
difference by reducing the number of excess calories children consume. HWCF
members are uniquely positioned to create healthier options that are appealing
to children and affordable for families," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D.,
M.B.A., RWJF president and CEO. "The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is pleased
to serve as an independent evaluator of the Healthy Weight Commitment
Foundation's marketplace initiative, so we can measure the impact of the
actions these companies are pledging to take."

"By developing and promoting common sense solutions that society can embrace
with certainty, we believe we can help make a difference in the fight against
obesity," said Ric Jurgens, chairman, chief executive officer and president of
Hy-Vee, Inc., and vice chairman of the board of the Healthy Weight Commitment
Foundation. "I know that the dedicated organizations involved in this effort,
combined with the tremendous resources at their disposal, will make a
significant impact in this critical area."

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation is a unique partnership between
retailers, non-profit organizations, food and beverage manufacturers and trade
associations aimed at helping to reduce obesity. For more information, go to
www.healthyweightcommit.org.

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation member companies and partner
organizations include:

American Council for Fitness and McCormick & Company, Inc.
Nutrition Foundation National Wildlife Federation
American Dietetic Association Nestle USA
Foundation Our Park Place
Brookshire Grocery Company PE4life
Bumble Bee Foods, LLC PepsiCo, Inc.
Campbell Soup Company Ralston Foods/Post Foods, LLC
ConAgra Foods Redner's Markets, Inc.
Festival Foods (Minnesota) Safeway Inc.
Food Marketing Institute Sara Lee Corporation
General Mills, Inc. Schnuck Markets, Inc.
Girl Scouts of the USA Shop Rite of Hunterdon
Gonzalez Northgate Market County, Inc.
Grocery Manufacturers Association Skogen's Festival Foods
Harris Teeter The Coca-Cola Company
Hy-Vee, Inc. The Hershey Company
IGA, Inc. The J.M. Smucker Company
Jax Markets Unilever
Kellogg Company United Supermarkets, Ltd.
Kraft Foods Inc. W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Mars, Incorporated Wakefern Food Corporation
Martin's Super Markets WalkStyles

SOURCE Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation

Scott Openshaw, +1-202-295-3957, sopenshaw@gmaonline.org, or Brian Kennedy,
+1-202-639-5994, bkennedy@gmaonline.org, both of the Grocery Manufacturers
Association