Tingyi
Product categories assessed
Bottled Water (Pure)|Dairy|Juice|Rice, Pasta and Noodles|RTD Tea|Bottled Water (Other)Percentage of company global sales covered by Product Profile assessment
95-100%Headquarters
ChinaNumber of employees
57956Type of ownership
PublicImportant:
The findings of this Index regarding companies’ performance rely to a large extent on information shared by companies, in addition to information that is available in the public domain. Several factors beyond the companies’ control may impact the availability of information such as differences in disclosure requirements among countries or capacity constraints within companies, amongst others the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, in the case of limited or no engagement by such companies, this Index may not represent the full extent of their efforts.
Corporate Profile
Rank 25
Commitment
Performance
Disclosure
Main areas
of strength
GOVERNANCE: For the first time in this Global Index iteration, Tingyi disclosed its approach to incorporating nutrition in its risk assessment. The company’s 2019 Annual Report includes “product nutrition and health” in the company-wide risk assessment. The result of Tingyi’s evaluation of the materiality of “ESG substantive issues”, this is presented in a matrix which highlights not only how each risk factor impacts the business, but also how important it is to the business’ stakeholders. ATNI encourages Tingyi to report more extensively on the company’s risk assessment and to establish a formal system of reporting to the Board on identified nutrition risks. Tingyi also shows a new commitment to “provide a diverse range of high-quality food and beverage, [and] embrace healthy, modern and endearing lifestyle”, for which it is commended.
● LIFESTYLES: Although via a focus on fitness only, the company makes a public commitment to employee wellbeing, stating in the ‘Sustainability Report’ that it “attaches great importance to the care of employees, and provides them with various forms of welfare, so that they can find happiness in their work and experience the feeling of home.” Tingyi encourages employees to exercise and provides an on-site sports and fitness venue that has been used by over 25,000 employees since it began operating.
● ENGAGEMENT: Since the 2018 iteration of the Global Index, Tingyi now discloses some level of engagement with government initiatives. In its 2019 Annual Report, the company discloses its involvement in the Chinese government’s National Nutrition Plan (NNP), stating that the NNP also guides the company’s nutrition and health strategy, aimed at promoting traditional Chinese cultures as well as “healthy and modern” lifestyles. A greater level of detail could be disclosed as to the nature and extent of Tingyi’s involvement in the NNP.
Priority areas
for improvement
● SCORES AND RANKS: As in the 2013, 2016, and 2018 Global Indexes, Tingyi’s public disclosure is limited, and the company ranks 25th on the 2021 Global Index. Tingyi’s limited disclosure means that no clear strengths were identified in the Corporate Profile research. Better disclosure by the company about its approach to tackling the global burden of malnutrition, in terms of nutrition governance, product formulation, affordability and accessibility, responsible marketing practices, lifestyles, labeling and engagement, would allow for a more complete assessment and identification of specific areas for improvement. Additionally, Tingyi is encouraged to engage with ATNI to allow a complete assessment of Tingyi’s products’ policies and practices.
● GOVERNANCE: Tingyi is encouraged to adopt and fully disclose a nutrition policy that specifies how the company could contribute to improved nutrition and health in the countries in which it operates, through its commercial strategy and activities. It could also consider disclosing information about its approach to addressing micronutrient deficiencies.
● PRODUCTS: As in 2018, Tingyi is advised to strengthen its scoring by defining a clear approach to reformulating existing products against well-defined nutritional targets. This includes: decreasing ‘negative nutrients’ (salt/sodium, trans-fat, saturated fat, and added sugars/calories); increasing ‘positive nutrients’ (fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes (FVNL), and whole grains); offering a high percentage of products within the portfolio that meet these nutritional targets; and offering healthy options across all company brands. To help strengthen their scoring, ATNI recommends Tingyi employs a comprehensive and appropriately set up Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM), applied to all products, as the basis for the company’s product reformulation efforts and its definition of healthy products.
● ACCESSIBILITY: ATNI advises that Tingyi adopts and publishes a policy to improve the affordability and physical accessibility of all its products that meet healthy criteria, taking into account how it reaches low-income populations or populations in rural or urban areas that lack regular access to healthy, affordable food.
● MARKETING: ATNI could not find information to give the company a score on its marketing strategy. Furthermore, no information on the company’s approach to marketing to children was found. ATNI advises Tingyi to adopt and publish a marketing policy that addresses general aspects of responsible marketing and specific commitments to ensure that marketing of unhealthy products to children is avoided. The company is encouraged to align with the World Health Organization (WHO) regional nutrient profile system to establish which products should not be marketed to children.
● LABELING: It is recommended that Tingyi adopts, publishes, and fully implements a global policy on nutrition labeling. It is encouraged to commit to providing information on all key nutrients in a way that is easy to understand for consumers – including information on portion size and nutrients as percentages of daily values (or equivalent), displayed appropriately in nutrition information panels on the back-of-packs (BOP) and in interpretative format on the front-of-packs (FOP). Like all companies, it is advised to ensure it does not undermine existing local interpretative FOP labeling systems by implementing alternative or additional systems. To improve scoring, Tingyi could consider adopting and publishing a global policy on the use of both health and nutrition claims which states that, in countries where a national regulatory system exists, such claims will only be placed on products if they are in full compliance with the relevant Codex standard.
● ENGAGEMENT: Tingyi is encouraged to develop a responsible lobbying policy that outlines its commitments and principles for engagement and activities. The company is advised to engage with a variety of relevant stakeholders that have expertise in nutrition and addressing malnutrition, to solicit input on its nutrition strategy, policies, and programs. It is also recommended to publicly adhere to international codes, such as ‘UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’, that guide responsible engagement with stakeholders in the food supply chain.
Category Analysis
Governance
Products
Accessibility
Marketing
Workforce
Labeling
Engagement
Nutrition
- A1
- Nutrition strategy
- A2
- Nutrition management
- A3
- Reporting quality
- B1
- Product Profile
- B2
- Product formulation
- B3
- Defining healthy products
- C1
- Product pricing
- C2
- Product distribution
- D1
- Marketing policy
- D2
- Marketing to children
- D3
- Auditing and compliance
- E1
- Employee health
- E2
- Breastfeeding support
- E3
- Consumer health
- F1
- Product labeling
- F2
- Claims
- G1
- Influencing policymakers
- G2
- Stakeholder engagement
Commitment
Performance
Disclosure
Detailed Product Profile Results
The Product Profile is an independent assessment of the nutritional quality of companies’ product portfolios. For this purpose, ATNI uses the Health Star Rating (HSR) model, which rates foods from 0.5 to 5.0 based on their nutritional quality. ATNI uses the threshold of 3.5 stars or more to classify products as generally healthy. This assessment is undertaken in partnership with The George Institute for Global Health (TGI), with additional data input from Innova Market Insights.
The methodology for the Global Index 2021 Product Profile has been revised and now includes three scored elements. The overall Product Profile score reflects: B1.1, the mean healthiness of a company’s product portfolio; B1.2, the relative healthiness within product categories compared to peers, and; B1.3, changes in the nutritional quality of product portfolios compared to the Global Index 2018 Product Profile. The steps taken to calculate the final Product Profile scores are visualized in Box 1. The next section further explains each of these three elements.
Tingyi has been assessed for the second time in the Global Index Product Profile. In the previous assessment, company’s major market (China) was included, and a total of 137 products analyzed – accounting for approximately 90-100% of global retail sales in 2017, excluding baby foods, plain tea, and coffee. In this Index, a total of 335 products have been analyzed sold in the Chinese market. Products from the top five best-selling product categories are included. In 2019, these products accounted for 95-100% of the company’s global retail sales, excluding baby foods, plain tea, and coffee.
In 2018, a total of five product categories were covered by the assessment, the same as in 2021. For all companies, Bottled Water has been split into two categories for this iteration (Bottled Water – pure and Bottled Water – other). For Tingyi, only products from the ‘Bottled Water – pure’ category are included in the 2021 assessment.
In this Product Profile assessment, Tingyi scores 2.9 out of 10 (B1.1) in the mean healthiness element, 4.4 out of 10 (B1.2) for the relative healthiness of its products within categories compared to peers, and 0 out of 10 (B1.3) for changes in nutritional quality (mean HSR) over time. This results in Tingyi obtaining an overall score of 2.4 out of 10, and ranking 25 in the Product Profile.
B1.1 Portfolio-level Results
| Average HSR (out of 5 stars) (sales- weighted) |
1 Countries included |
Range of global sales included |
Healthy products (HSR) |
Products suitable to market to children (WHO regional models) - UNSCORED |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.4 | China | 95-100% | No. products assessed |
% products healthy (≥3.5 stars) |
% retail sales healthy 2019 (≥3.5 stars) – assessed countries only |
% estimated global retail sales healthy 2019 (≥3.5 stars) |
No. products assessed |
% products suitable |
% sales from suitable |
| 355 | 20% | 14% | 15% | 335 | 3% | 5% | |||
● A total of 335 products manufactured by Tingyi in China, covering five product categories, were included in this Product Profile (baby foods, plain tea and coffee were not assessed). The company’s sales-weighted mean HSR is 1.4 out of 5. ATNI turns this value into a score between 0 and 10, resulting in a mean healthiness score of 2.9 out of 10 for Tingyi. The company ranks 23 out of 25 companies in this first scored element (B1.1).
● Overall, 20% of distinct products assessed were found to meet the HSR healthy threshold (HSR >=3.5). Together, these products accounted for an estimated 14% of Tingyi’s retail sales of packaged food and beverages 2019 in the selected markets (excluding baby food, plain tea, and coffee). Assuming the products and markets included in the assessment are representative of the company’s overall global sales, ATNI estimates the company derived approximately 15% of its global retail sales from healthy products in 2019. It is important to note that Tingyi did not provide feedback to ATNI at the product level, and therefore most products were analyzed ‘as sold’ as opposed to ‘as consumed’ (reconstituted), which affected the results on the average nutritional quality of Tingyi’s portfolio.
WHO nutrient profiling models (unscored): Only 3% of products assessed were found to be of sufficient nutritional quality to market to children, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) regional nutrient profiling models. These products were estimated to generate 5% of the company’s sales in 2019. More information on this part of the assessment can be found in the Marketing section (Category D) of the Index.
B1.2. Product Category Results
| No. products analyzed |
% products healthy (HSR>=3.5) |
Company mean HSR |
Mean HSR for all companies selling this product category |
Company performance (rank in mean HSR compared to peers selling products in the same category) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice, Pasta and Noodles | 168 | 0% | 0.6 | 2.4 | 5th out of 6 |
| RTD Tea | 37 | 0% | 1.5 | 1.7 | 5th out of 7 |
| Dairy | 71 | 11% | 2.7 | 2.9 | 14th out of 18 |
| Juice | 54 | 100% | 3.6 | 3.2 | 2nd out of 8 |
| Bottled Water - other | 5 | 100% | 5 | 5 | 1 |
● The ‘Bottled Water- Pure’ category receives a standard rating of five stars, according to the HSR algorithm for all companies. For Tingyi ‘Juice,’ was the next best performing category, where a total of 71 products analyzed obtained mean HSR of 3.6 out of 5. ‘Rice, Pasta and Noodles’ category had the lowest mean HSR (0.6), which is also the category accounting for the largest proportion of sales, thus significantly impacting the company’s overall results shown above (B1.1). It is important to highlight that Tingyi’s ‘Rice, Pasta and Noodles’ products were analyzed ‘as sold’ due data limitations. It is outside of this Product Profile scope to evaluate to what extent the company’s products would, if assessed “as consumed,” (i.e. in cases where a product needs to be reconstituted before it is eaten, for example beverage powders), be of relatively higher nutritional quality.
● For two out of five categories assessed, Tingyi’s products perform equal to or better than the mean HSR of companies selling products in the same categories.
● Tingyi scores 4.4 out of 10 in this second scored element (B1.2) and ranks 21 out of 25 companies. This is based on its ranking compared to peers within the five categories, using the scoring system set out in ATNI’s methodology.
B1.3. Change in mean HSR
| No. of products analyzed in 2018 |
No. of products analyzed in 2021 |
Sales weighted mean HSR 2018 |
Sales weighted mean HSR 2021 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 137 | 335 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| TOTAL | 137 | 335 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
● Among the 18 companies for which this third scored element was applicable, Tingyi was one of nine companies which showed no increase in mean HSR between the 2018 and 2021 Product Profiles (mean HSR=1.6 to 1.4).
● Tingyi was found to have decreased its average HSR by 0.2 stars using sales-weighted portfolio-level results, resulting in a score of 0 out of 10 on this element using the scoring system set out in ATNI’s methodology.
Full Product Profile report