With 78 grams per person¹, the average daily sugar consumption in Austria remains above the WHO recommendation of a maximum of 50 grams² per day. This makes it all the more important for companies like SPAR Austria to continue their efforts to reduce sugar in their products. Since the launch of SPAR Austria’s sugar reduction initiative in 2017, the retailer has cut around 5,300 tons of sugar from its own brand products.

Recent studies³ show that eating less sugar is important for a healthy diet:

• Almost half of Austrians want to reduce their sugar consumption.
• 78% of the respondents mistakenly believe that their average daily sugar consumption is within the WHO recommendation. Only 22% correctly guessed that they eat more than 51 grams of sugar each day.

SPAR Austria is pursuing a clear policy of reducing sugar in SPAR own brand products. Markus Kaser, Deputy CEO of SPAR Austria, said: “For us, less sugar means better quality and increased enjoyment of our SPAR own brand products. Our recipes for these products focus on natural taste, and we do not use sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners.”

The retailer is revising the recipes of existing products to lower the sugar content. By the end of 2025, about 5,300 tons of sugar were reduced from more than 380 own brand products. Some new products are made with no added sugar at all.

SPAR Austria is supporting the trend towards reduced sugar consumption together with about 50 partners as part of the “zucker-raus-initiative”, an alliance against excessive sugar consumption. The goal is to provide consumers with clear information about the health risks of long-term high sugar consumption.

¹ See Statistik Austria, sugar consumption per capita in 2023/24 was 28.4kg (corresponds to a daily consumption of around 78g): Supply Balances – STATISTIK AUSTRIA – The Information Manager

² See WHO Sugar Recommendations – AGES

³ This is the result of a recent survey by Marketagent in February 2026, commissioned by SPAR Austria.

Source: SPAR Austria

Read more news from SPAR Austria.

About SPAR Austria

The origins of the SPAR brand in Austria date back to 1954. The current SPAR AG was created in 1970 when the original founding families joined other regional wholesalers to form SPAR Austria AG, a 100% privately owned Austrian company. Company-owned stores operate throughout the country in the multi-format retail strategy developed since the 1960’s, whilst independent retailers operate under sub-license from SPAR Austria and continue building the brand’s presence.