Hi,
Reading the label on Plenny shake (strawberry) I noticed there is too little sugar and salt - you claim there is just 6% of a daily reference intake of an average adult. Considering those 6% are in 100g of the product, which corresponds to 415 kcal or approx. 20% of a daily reference intake, the amount of both sugar and salt is 3 times lower than it should be. Why is it so?
I understand on one hand that many prefer to add sugar / salt to taste and it is always easier to add than remove. But on the other hand, you claim that Plenny shake is a complete meal, which is something that resonates with me and is a reason for me to buy it - because I won’t need to think about anything else. Just add water and focus on other things.
For this reason, I would suggest that you make a product that actually contains everything an average person needs to get on a daily basis without any further modifications. Or if you decide to continue with a lowered sugar / salt content, it would be wise to state that aloud. Something like “Our product is incomplete, please consider adding some sugar”, so that your customers know it is not what they were looking after.
Hi there! Let me consult with our Product Development team and get back to you on this 
Talk soon!
Hi!
Thank you for reaching out about this topic! As confusing it might seem, the Reference Intake does not completely function similar as a recommendation. The RI is a measure that is used in two ways, namely: 1. Indicating what an average adult needs per day, considering energy, nutrients, vitamins and minerals. 2. For some nutrients (such as salt, saturated fats and sugar) the RI indicates how much of these nutrients can still be consumed, fitting a healthy diet. For these nutrients, it is not necessary to reach the 100% (1,2). Related to salt and sugar you referred to, differences in recommendations and the RI are as following:
Considering salt, a RI of 6 grams per day is defined, while World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an intake lower than 5 grams of salt per day(1–3). Five Plenny Shake meals a day would give you 1,5 gram of salt leaving us on the safe side.
Likewise, WHO strongly recommends a daily sugar-intake below 10% of the total energy intake, but the RI defined for sugar is 90 grams (1,2,4). When the amounts stated as RI would be consumed, this would contribute to 18% of energy-intake in a 2000 kcal diet! To stay on the safe side for this as well, the sugar on a diet solely based on Plenny Shake, contributes to 4,9 percent of the total energy. As you can tell, the RI is intended primarily for informational purposes and is not a specific amount to how much of a nutrient you should eat.
I hope I have informed you well about your concerns regarding this topic.
I am leaving you the sources of this in case you’d like to read further about this
- Referentie-inname | Voedingscentrum [Internet]. [cited 2020 Feb 19]. Available from: https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/encyclopedie/referentie-inname.aspx
- Reference intakes explained [Internet]. nhs.uk. 2018 [cited 2020 May 6]. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/what-are-reference-intakes-on-food-labels/
- Salt reduction [Internet]. [cited 2020 May 6]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/salt-reduction
- WHO | WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children [Internet]. WHO. World Health Organization; [cited 2020 May 6]. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/
With love and joy,
Joanna
Thanks Joanna for the explanation.
To wrap up the answer to my concern - can you confirm that if I were an average adult, eating just the current version of plenny according to the recommended dosage, then I would receive everything I need (including sugars and salt) even after prolonged time periods? Say more than a month in a row.
You’re welcome, and that is correct! All our products provide you the necessary amounts of all the nutrients needed on a daily basis