PepsiCo India launches ‘Bowl of Hope’ to mark World Whole Grain Sampling Day 2021
New Delhi: In line with FSSAI’s Eat Right Movement and to mark the Whole Grain Sampling Day, PepsiCo India in collaboration with United Way Delhi launched a week-long awareness initiative -‘Bowl of Hope’ today. As part of the initiative, PepsiCo India will conduct awareness around nutritious eating, active lifestyle, and the importance of whole grains in daily diets through videos and online sessions. In addition to that, PepsiCo India through its brand Quaker will also serve over 50,000 nutritious bowls of wholegrain to the underserved communities across Delhi-NCR.
To address the lack of understanding of what whole grains really are, PepsiCo India also launched an educational video featuring Michelin Star Chef and Quaker brand Ambassador, Vikas Khanna. According to a recent *scientific publication on survey conducted by PepsiCo India, urban millennials consume less than 10% whole grains per day and only 2% of the surveyed respondents knew what wholegrains really are. As per the National Institute of Nutrition, ideally at least 50% of the total grains consumed per day should be whole grains.
Recognizing PepsiCo India’s efforts, Dr. Jagmeet Madan, National President, Indian Dietetics Association & Principal and Professor, Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science, SNDTWU, Mumbai said, “FSSAI’s Eat Right India movement aims to promote safe and healthy food for everyone in an environmentally sustainable way. While people are aware of healthy eating, lack of understanding of what nutritious meal consists of, makes it important to increase its awareness among people. PepsiCo India’s efforts on an important day like World Whole Grain Sampling Day, is a step in the right direction. We need more such initiatives to help address the nutrition challenge in India at hand.”
Mr Sachin Golwalkar, CEO, United Way Delhi, said “At United Way Delhi we strongly believe in mobilising the caring power of communities towards advancing the common good. We are glad to be collaborating with PepsiCo India for the Bowl of Hope campaign on the Wholegrain Sampling Day.”
“With the pool of contribution, United Way Delhi will procure and distribute grains to the underserved communities in an attempt to raise awareness on nutrition and wholegrains”, Sachin further added.
Speaking about the initiative, Mr. Viraj Chouhan, Chief Government Affairs and Communications Officer, PepsiCo India said, “Nutrition deficiency poses a real risk to the socio-economic progress of a country. To boost nutrition in the daily diet of Indians, PepsiCo India has been promoting healthy diets and nourishing food through various interventions. The Whole Grain Sampling day is a perfect opportunity for us to launch the ‘Bowl of Hope’ initiative, which uniquely offers brand contribution and employee volunteerism. We are happy to have the United Way as our partner to drive positive change in society.”
Leveraging the World Whole Grain Sampling Day as a beacon to encourage volunteerism, a special microsite has been created where PepsiCo India employees can contribute whole grains for the underserved communities. As part of the week-long initiative, various awareness sessions will underscore the importance of whole grains in the form of panel discussions, twitter chats and talks by nutritionists.