It was an honor to be invited to participate in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The goal is clear: end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity among Americans by 2030.

Tyson Foods supports the White House’s efforts to bring together diverse perspectives from the public and private sectors to help tackle these issues, which we believe are critical to our country.

And the private sector has an important role to play. That’s why – to help make this goal a reality – we are taking bold action.

Tyson Foods is pleased to share that, by 2030, we intend to:

  • Invest a quarter of a billion, or $250 million, into the charitable food system to expand access to affordable, nutritious protein and build greater capacity for the charitable food system to reach every community equally.
  • Invest $20 million to help make nutrition education more accessible to children, workers, and communities through initiatives such as the company’s Upward Academy program.
  • Aim to increase the nutritional value per consumer dollar spent (measured by Nutrient Rich Food Score per dollar spent) on more than 10% of our Prepared Foods portfolio to help close the gap between affordability and nutritional value.  

While these 2030 aspirations are new, Tyson Foods’ work to help solve hunger by providing accessible, affordable, and nutritious protein that sustains our planet is not. Over the past several years, we have made numerous major commitments designed to improve the health of Americans in every community.

Below are just a few of the actions we’ve taken:

Improving Food Access and Affordability

  • In 2021, we donated 16 million pounds of protein – equivalent to 64 million meals – to food banks, pantries, and hunger relief organizations. Of that, nearly 10 million pounds were distributed through the Community Pantry Program, an innovative initiative spearheaded by Tyson Foods to provide hunger relief and address hunger-related issues in rural communities.
  • In 2022, we committed $2.5 million to the organization Feeding America to help provide greater access to protein in communities facing hunger, with a focus on communities of color and rural communities.
  • In 2022, we also made investments in USDA-certified food bank repack locations that allow the repacking and distribution of bulk and private-label protein products.
  • We continue to support smart policies that strengthen the security, resiliency, and efficiency of the global food system.

Empowering Nutrition Education and Healthy Choices

  • We’ve expanded our team of industry-leading nutrition experts to keep us at the forefront of ever-changing health and nutrition science, policy, and trends so that we can drive nutrition education through our platforms, partners, and people.
  • In 2021, we expanded our product portfolio to meet the lifestyle needs of our customers, including new innovations among our plant-based and air-fried products. Our new and reformulated products are lower and sodium and saturated fats, while containing essential vitamins and fiber.
  • Through Tyson Ventures, we have invested more than $100 million in startups and companies focused on breakthrough ideas and innovations, including sustainable solutions to feed a growing, global population.

Tyson Foods is proud of the investments we’ve made toward a healthier and more equitable food future. And – with our new 2030 aspirations – we look forward to supporting the White House’s roadmap to end hunger, once and for all.

Author
Executive Vice President, Strategy & Chief Sustainability Officer at Tyson Foods

John R. Tyson joined the Tyson Foods team in 2019 and serves as Executive Vice President, Strategy & Chief Sustainability Officer, leading the company’s efforts to support a more sustainable protein system. This includes driving improvement by implementing the company’s sustainability strategy as well as managing the sustainability, animal welfare, mergers & acquisitions, strategy, procurement, diversity, equity & inclusion, ventures, commodity purchasing and corporate social responsibility teams.

John also leads Tyson Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in companies developing breakthrough technologies, business models and products to sustainably feed the growing world population. A member of Tyson Foods’ enterprise leadership team, John reports to President & CEO Donnie King.

John has a Bachelors’ Degree in Economics from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He previously worked in investment banking for J.P. Morgan and as a private equity and venture capital investor. He is also a lecturer at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. John serves on the Board of Directors of Winrock International and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

John is a fourth-generation member of the Tyson family.

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