The Nutrition and Health Programme
We want to offer consumers healthier bakery products to support a healthy and balanced lifestyle. We want Finns to be healthy and able to enjoy products that are developed according to the Nordic and international nutritional recommendations.
In our Nutrition and Health Programme, we employ our research, grain, nutrition and bakery knowhow in product development throughout the whole company. As forerunners, we want to bring innovative, tasty and healthy bread options to the market. We want to make sure that the health benefits of wholegrain and fibre are easily available to consumers. With our Nutrition and Health Programme, healthy and nutritious products get from the research department to dinner tables more quickly.
Principles of our Nutrition and Health Programme:
- First-rate raw materials, high fibre content and lower salt content are our advantages when developing healthy bakery products.
- We want to make it even easier to choose tasty and healthy bakery products, and support healthy lifestyle and dietary choices.
- We communicate actively and responsibly to consumers, customers and other stakeholders according to nutritional recommendation guidelines.
- We think it is important to increase consumer awareness on the significance of nutrition to health.
- We put research projects with nutritional effects first.
From research to practice
Reaching our goals requires commitment to our work. We continuously improve our grain and bakery knowhow by participating in domestic and international research projects related to healthy diets and the health benefits of grains. We promote consumer awareness of the health effects of rye, wholegrains and fibre.
Our job is to provide consumers with information that helps them make healthy choices and to make sure that there are good and versatile options in our bread selection. Our packages include clear information about, e.g. the ingredients and allergens in our products.
Vaasan Nutrition and Health Programme execution
The new Finnish nutritional recommendations, published in January 2014, emphasize the value of wholegrains and fibre in a healthy diet. Vaasan’s product range is well in line with the recommendations, because we have focused on fibre, wholegrain and rye for a long time already. Here’s a few examples of our concrete actions related to nutrition and health:
Case Vaasan Kaurasydän
Vaasan Kaurasydän is an oatmeal bread, which helps lower cholesterol levels. The product, launched in 2013, was well received both in Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Two other flavours were also introduced to the market later on. We were very careful in developing the Vaasan Kaurasydän bread: consumers need to be certain that the health claims we make really are true.
Case RyeNacho
Vaasan RyeNacho rye nachos have taken over the snack market in Finland and their popularity exceeded our expectations.
The RyeNacho can be enjoyed on their own or with dip sauce or cheeses. All RyeNacho products have been baked of 100% wholegrain rye and they have 18–19% of fibre. There’s no added fat in the products.
The popularity of these new products shows us that we are on the right track in our product development to answer consumer needs with healthier snack options.