Keybridge Study Confirms Decline in School Soft Drink Shipments

Monday, 08 March 2010

Keybridge verifies the progress of the largest beverage producers in reducing calories available to children during the school day.

On March 8th, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation — a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association — and the American Beverage Association (ABA) released the final progress report of the "Alliance School Beverage Guidelines".  Established in May 2006, the Alliance School Beverage Guidelines limit portion sizes and reduce the number of beverage calories available to children during the school day.  To verify the industry's progress, the ABA commissioned Keybridge Research to collect school beverage shipment data every six months from major U.S. bottlers — including the Coca Cola Company, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, and PepsiCo — and evaluate the extent to which the goals set forth in the guidelines are achieved. 

This Alliance School Beverage Guidelines Progress Report marks the third and final assessment of the impact and status of the Alliance School Beverage Guidelines. The report demonstrates that the beverage producers and their bottlers have succeeded in changing the beverage landscape in America’s schools: 

· The number of calories that these bottlers are delivering to schools decreased by 88% percent between the first half of the 2004-05 school year and the first half of the 2009-10 school year. 

· There has been a dramatic shift toward lower-calorie and higher nutrient beverages in schools, including waters, 100% juices, and portion-controlled sports drinks. 

· Shipment volumes of full-calorie CSDs to schools (total ounces basis) were 95 percent lower in the first half of the 2009-10 school year than they were in the first half of the 2004-05 school year.



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