Wal-Mart Rolling Back Trans Fats

Last week, Wal-Mart announced a plan to make healthy foods more easily accessible to consumers by lowering the salts, fats and sugars in the products of its house brand, Great Value, and by lowering the prices of fruits and vegetables.  While this is a smart public relations move for Wal-Mart, the company is a little late to jump on the bandwagon to encourage healthy eating choices and fight childhood obesity, as has been largely promoted by Michelle Obama.

From NYTimes.com

According to an article in the New York Times by Sheryl Gay Stolberg (Wal-Mart Shifts Strategy to Promote Healthy Foods), Wal-Mart has been working closely with Michelle Obama for more than a year to design and initiate this five-year plan.  The plan “…sets specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and added sugars in a broad array of foods — including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks like potato chips…” (Stolberg, para. 3).

In addition, Wal-Mart will work with some of its major food suppliers and encourage them to follow its example; one of the examples given was Kraft, which is interesting because Kraft was one of the very first food companies to cut down on trans fats, etc. when the obesity epidemic began years ago.

Regardless, Wal-Mart’s plan for Great Value should make a big impact on the affordability of healthy foods because as Stolberg mentions, Wal-Mart “…sells more groceries than any other company in the country…” (para. 8) and traditionally, healthy foods have a higher sticker price, making it difficult for customers to fit them into their budget.

Wal-Mart plans to create a symbol or seal to place on the packaging of healthy foods (as determined by their sodium, fat, and sugar content) to assist customers in making healthy choices (Stolberg).

However, Michael Jacobson, the executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, feels that Wal-Mart could be acting more aggressively; the changes will occur slowly over the next five years and will reduce sodium by 25 percent and sugars by only 10 percent (Stolberg).

With rising healthcare costs and the growing obesity epidemic, healthier, affordable food choices are desperately needed, but is this just a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stunt for good press? You’d think that a company as powerful as Wal-Mart would be able to get more done faster.