Knorr Donates P1 Million to a Feeding Program

If you watch local TV channels regularly, you've probably seen the Knorr Cubes commercial where Chef Tristan Encarnacion challenged Filipino consumers to present a seasoning granule with more meat content than Knorr Chicken Cubes.

The deal was, if a consumer finds a seasoning granule meatier than Knorr Chicken Cubes, he or she can get a prize of P1 million. But, should there be no product proven to be meatier, the P1 million prize will be donated to fund a feeding program to help improve the nutritional level of Filipino kids.

Unilever Philippines tapped Eurofins Analytik Gmbh, an independent third party testing firm in Germany, and worked in accordance with an FDA-approved testing protocol for meat content analysis to ensure credibility. Despite the entries submitted, results showed that Knorr Chicken Cubes' meat content is at least five times more than other local brands'.

Chef Tristan affirms, “When it comes to making great soups, no other brand beats Knorr Cubes! For me, soup is not a good enough soup without the very meaty taste of Knorr Cubes.”

And since no one won the challenge prize, Knorr Cubes donated P1 million to Kabisig ng Kalahi – a non-government organization that does community-based feeding programs in selected depressed communities in the Philippines.

The money will greatly help address hunger and malnutrition, which continue to affect thousands of school-age Filipino children. One province at a time, Knorr is making a dent in reducing the national malnutrition level among school children through its Makulay ang Buhay ng Batang Pinoy (MBBP) feeding program.

According to Ms. Bajeng Cruz, Knorr Brand Manager, they chose Kabisig because it "has a module that's already working so we need not reinvent the wheel to do something about children's malnutrition." Knorr has been partnering with Kabisig since 2002 in operationalizing a feeding program. The P1 million donation will provide hundreds of children with nutritious meals and will help in training more parents to prepare healthy, affordable meals for their families. To date, the MBBP feeding program has already benefited more than 20,000 malnourished Filipino children.

“Our commitment to good food goes beyond providing excellent cooking aids,” says Cruz. “We believe that good food matters and the Sabaw Challenge gave us an opportunity to live out that commitment by offering undernourished kids and their families the value of quality and healthful cooking. We can only be very happy and proud to be of help in this way.”

The P1 million donation was turned over to Ms. Vicky Wieneke of Kabisig ng Kalahi last March 16 in a ceremony witnessed by members of the media in the Magkaibigan Hall at the Unilever compound in Manila.