ICA to make it easier for customers to live a healthy life

All ICA Gruppen companies in Sweden have adopted a new health strategy that is based on an ambition to make it easier for our customers to live a healthy life. One of the first targets is that by 2025 at the latest, customers’ purchases of fruits and vegetables will correspond to consumption of 500 grams a day per person. This will be achieved by providing inspiration and through a range of different measures in stores, communication and advocacy work.

ICA Gruppen’s health ambition will pursued during the period 2021–2025 and comprises three focus areas: mental well-being, physical well-being, and safe use of antibiotics. Mental well-being is about improving mental well-being in society by creating security and harmony through all stages of life. In physical well-being the focus is on making it easier to live a little more healthily, such as by eating more fruits and vegetables and reducing the sugar content in products. In the third area, ICA aims to promote and ensure long-term safe use of antibiotics.

“In view of our size and proximity to people, we have a great responsibility, but also a great opportunity to contribute to positive development in society,” says Per Strömberg, CEO of ICA Gruppen. “We need to inspire and make it easier for our customers to make healthy choices. To further support our customers, we are also developing services to help improve our customers’ mental well-being.”

Only two out of ten people eat enough fruit and vegetables every day. At the same time, new research shows that healthy food habits reduce the risk of developing depression and mental illness. Four in ten people eat too much sugar, which can lead to a higher risk for diabetes, overweight, obesity and poor oral health.

Kerstin Lindvall, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at ICA Gruppen, comments: “We have set a target that by 2025 at the latest, customers’ purchases of fruits and vegetables will correspond to consumption of 500 grams a day. We will also take measures to reduce the sugar content in our private label products with focus on children and families with children. The hope is that measures like these will make it easier for our customers to live a more healthy life.”

The health ambition covers a number of initiatives within the ICA Gruppen’s Swedish operations. A few examples:

• ICA Sweden will work to ensure that customers’ purchases of fruits and vegetables will correspond to consumption of 500 grams a day by 2025 at the latest.
• Apotek Hjärtat is conducting an internal training initiative in the area of mental illness during the spring. It will also be working with proactive measures to prevent development of type 2 diabetes, such as by offering glucose tests at selected pharmacies.
• ICA Bank will publish guides to help and support customers through difficult stages of life. The guides address separation, unemployment, illness and death. ICA Bank is also working with mental health among children and youths through the Jourhavande Kompis (“Friend on call”) anonymous chat line and cooperation with ECPAT, among other things.
• ICA Insurance offers crisis therapy for bullying and protection against domestic violence in its home insurance, and family therapy in its child insurance.
• ICA Real Estate will continue to establish outdoor gyms, playgrounds and other health promotion solutions nearby its properties that can help our customers live active lives.

For more information
ICA Gruppen press service, telephone number: +46 (0)10 422 52 52
ica.se, icagruppen.se