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Loblaw, Boulangerie St-Méthode and Hypo Délices commit to reducing salt

June 20, 2014, Montreal – Three Canadian companies recently joined
the Melior program in a commitment to reduce the amount of sodium in
their products.

June 20, 2014, Montreal – Loblaw Companies Limited, Boulangerie St-Méthode and Hypo Délices, an
allergen-free and gluten-free food processing company, recently joined
the Melior program in a commitment to reduce the amount of sodium in
their products. 

Food distributor Loblaw Companies Limited has implemented the Guiding Stars program in its Provigo, Provigo Le Marché and Loblaws stores. It will soon introduce in its Maxi and Maxi & Cie stores.

In addition, the company has made commitments to reduce sodium
in its President's Choice line of products. It will reduce by 22 per cent on average the sodium content of 95 existing control label brands and develop 151 new control label products respecting the sodium levels requirements of Health Canada.

"Guiding
and supporting Quebec consumers to help them make healthier eating
choices is a priority for us," stated Anita Jarjour, senior director, corporate affairs and communications for Loblaw Companies Limited in
Quebec, in a media statement. "We are proud to offer Quebecers no fewer than 246 control label
products with reduced sodium."

Boulangerie St-Méthode is becoming the first
bakery to join the Melior program by targeting sodium. Boulangerie St-Méthode has committed to reduce sodium by at least 35 per cent per two-slice serving of No Fat No Sugar Added multi-cereal and 100 per cent whole-wheat Les Grains St-Méthode breads and by an average of 25 per cent in seven other breads. The bakery will also place at least 50 per cent of the flours used with integral wheat
flour in four existing No Fat No Sugar Added breads of Les Grains
St-Méthode brand.

Benoit
Faucher, general manager of Boulangerie St-Méthode, said in the statement that joining the
Melior program is a natural next step for the company: "Baking healthier
breads is in our DNA, and recognition from an independent, credible
third party is a testament to the seriousness of our effort. Through our
association with Melior, we are setting the bar even higher and have
decided to optimize our existing products rather than create new ones."

Hypo
Délices, an allergen- and gluten-free food processing company, creates ready-to-eat products such as lasagnas, muffin bars and
cakes using top-quality ingredients that are largely allergen-free for
the Ange-Gardien and Délices Complices lines and that are gluten-free
for the Délices Complices line. Products made by this Quebec City area
company can be found in supermarkets across the province. Its four
commitments are to reduce fat content by 20 per cent and increase fibre content to two grams for each serving of Ange-Gardien cake; to reduce by five per cent the sodium content in Délices Complices lasagna; to elaborate
two oatmeal cookie products containing more than three grams of fibre and
with sodium and fat content no higher than 11 per cent of the recommended daily
value; and to reduce the saturated fats by 50 per cent in the Christmas maple log.

"At
Hypo Délices, we constantly strive to combine high-quality, healthy
ingredients with reasonable prices. The Melior program is helping us
become more creative in continuing to offer our customers the best
products at the best prices," said Judith Robert, president of Hypo
Délices, in the statement.

"Loblaw, Boulangerie St-Méthode
and Hypo Délices are household names among Quebecers. And their
commitment to improve their products means that much more because their
products are so easily accessible to consumers. This is precisely what
Melior aims
to do: enable consumers to eat healthier on a daily basis without it
being a complicated or expensive endeavour," said Annick
Van Campenhout, director of the Melior program, in the statement.

To date,
almost 40 commitments have been made by 10 signatories, including IGA,
Pacini and Compass Group. To learn more about the commitments made by businesses, visit programmemelior.com .

According to the World Action on Salt and Health (WASH),
lowering individual salt
consumption by just six grams per day can reduce deaths associated with
cardiovascular disease by 18 per cent, said the release. In an Ipsos survey conducted for Melior in 2012 only 11 per cent of
respondents said they read food labels to check the sodium levels in the
products they buy.

The Melior program is a Quebec initiative aiming to stimulate food progress
and help improve the food supply in Quebec. The program involves
voluntary charters of commitments toward nutritional progress signed by
agri-food industry members. Inspired by a similar model in France, it is
the first initiative of its kind in North America and has been fully
adapted to Quebec realities. To date, 40
commitments have been made by 10 businesses representing all of the
links in the agri-food chain. The program has been made possible through financial support from www.quebecenforme.org