Del Monte Foods Joins Forces With Partnership for a Healthier America In The Fight Against Childhood Obesity

SAN FRANCISCO, March 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Del Monte Foods announced today it has joined the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama to end the childhood obesity crisis, in a five-year commitment to help increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children.  The commitment includes substantial investments in marketing and new product innovation that builds on Del Monte's long-standing commitment to developing healthy, great tasting products, and providing helpful, nutritious meal planning resources for busy parents.

"Providing access to great tasting, nutritious foods and making it easy for parents to incorporate them in meals throughout the day are fundamental steps to improving the health of our nation's children," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "I'm proud that Del Monte Foods will be working with PHA to make its healthiest items even more accessible to American families."

"We are honored to join PHA and contribute to the health and well-being of our nation's children and their families," said Richard Blossom, senior vice president for Del Monte Foods. "We believe that better health and nutrition can be attained by filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables at every meal, every day. Through a variety of initiatives we will deliver this message in ways that will engage, educate, and inspire parents and kids to turn these words into action."

Del Monte will make the following commitments to PHA:

• Del Monte will devote $18 million over three years to execute marketing campaigns and promotions that encourage families and children to consume more servings of fruits and vegetables and enjoy healthful meals and snacks.
• Del Monte will distribute 150 million coupons over three years for reduced pricing (at least 40 percent) on Del Monte brand products.
• Del Monte will improve recipes listed on product labels to encourage families to prepare even healthier, tasty side dishes and meals from Del Monte brand products.
• Del Monte will also add "drained labels" to its fruit products, showing nutritional facts for fruit as packed, as well as after draining, by October 1, 2016 to encourage reduced sugar consumption.
• Del Monte will increase access to and understanding of healthier food choices on its website by adding full nutrition information as required by the Nutrition Facts label and reducing dessert-only recipes to no more than 10 percent of total recipes on the website by July 1, 2015, and adding 40 new recipes to the website that meet U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans by July 1, 2016.
• Del Monte will donate a minimum of 7.5 million pounds of fruit and vegetable products in the next three years to support anti-hunger efforts across the United States.
• Building on its long heritage of developing nutritious, healthy products, Del Monte will raise the nutritional profile of the Del Monte brand product portfolio by 15 percent based on the Nutrient Rich Food Index. This goal will be attained through multiple activities, including the introduction of innovative new products for kids and families featuring less added sugars or salt, and the development and promotion of recipes featuring fruit in light syrup, no sodium and reduced sodium vegetable and tomato products.

Del Monte has agreed to work with an independent verifier to report the progress of their commitment for PHA's annual report.

About Del Monte Foods
Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest and most well-known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food products for the U.S. retail market, generating approximately $1.8 billion in net sales in fiscal 2013. With a powerful portfolio of brands, Del Monte products are found in six out of ten U.S. households. Brands include Del Monte®, Contadina®, S&W®, College Inn® and other brand names.  The Company also produces and distributes private label food products.  For more information on Del Monte Foods, visit the Company's website at www.delmontefoods.com.

About the Partnership for a Healthier America
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort.  PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts.

PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

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SOURCE Del Monte Foods

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