With products consumed by 400 million people around the world, Bel has a very great responsibility and has set itself the mission of offering healthier, responsible and accessible food for all. We have set ourselves the goal of continually improving the nutritional quality of our products, aiming for greater naturalness and promoting good eating habits. Our nutrition commitments are based on international public health recommendations and the opinions of our scientific committee, made up of 5 independent nutrition experts.
Aware of current and future nutritional challenges, Bel contributes to meeting them by adapting and optimizing its recipes as part of a continuous improvement process. We rely on the advice of recognized international and local scientific experts and nutritionists.
In Algeria, Egypt and Morocco, in 2021 we launched The Laughing Cow 4 Essentials, with a recipe fortified with iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin A or D s to contribute to the fight against deficiencies of these nutrients in children.
To assess the impact of this fortification on children’s nutritional intake, a study was carried out in Morocco with research teams from the University of Zaragoza. The results, published in 2023, show that one portion a day of The Laughing Cow® meets the nutritional requirements of Moroccan children in terms of iron, iodine and zinc.
Also in 2024, the La Vache qui rit® Light formula in Spain was enriched with calcium and vitamin D to meet local nutritional needs.
To meet the health challenges of the countries in which we are present and convinced of our social role, we are seeking to gradually reduce the salt, sugar and fat content of our products without compromising on taste.
In Europe, over the past 10 years, we have reduced the fat content of The Laughing Cow® by 25% and its salt content by 37%.
This means that 100% of our GoGo squeeZ fruit recipes have no added sugar. The Pom’Potes brand already has a majority of its products with no added sugar, and will have 100% by 2026.
In different regions, fruit bottles are also available with enhanced recipes, enriched with vitamins, minerals or prebiotic fibres for vitality, immunity or digestive well-being.
Consumers are increasingly attentive to the contents of their plates and labels. To meet this need for naturalness, we began work over ten years ago with our Research & Development teams. The aim is to progressively reduce the number of additives and simplify our ingredient lists, without compromising on food safety and taste.
In Europe, we have developed a portioned Kiri recipe that now contains only dairy ingredients, salt, water and lactic ferments.
We are very proud to have achieved by 2021 our target set in 2018 of eliminating all artificial colours and flavours from all our core brands: The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Babybel®, Nurishh® and Boursin®.
By listening to our consumers, we have also extended our range of organic products on our core brands (Pom’Potes® since 2009, GoGo squeeZ® in 2012 Babybel® in 2018, The Laughing Cow® in 2019 and Kiri® in 2022).
At Bel, we are committed to promoting good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle for children and families through our communication and the programs we support.
Since 2016, Bel has signed the EU Pledge, a responsible nutrition communications charter to promote healthier consumption habits and ethical behaviour in its communications.
In addition, the Materne by Bel Nutrition team regularly exchanges with the scientific and medical community through various conferences. In 2023, it provided French healthcare professionals with a brochure on the nutritional benefits of fruit snacks for children.
In addition, as part of its Healthy Lifestyle programme, Bel supports programmes to promote good eating habits and a healthier lifestyle among children and families. We have defined a framework for setting up long-term partnerships with NGOs* and government authorities.
In 2023, 8 countries have set up a programme aimed at children and families.
In Africa, since 2018, the Eat Well Smile Bigger program run with the Ministry of Education and local nutritionists has benefited 11,500 schoolchildren to combat malnutrition. In the United States and Canada, the Group has also developed anti-obesity programs to raise awareness among thousands of children of the benefits of regular physical activity.
For more information, see the Bel Group nutrition brochure:
