The companies at the top of the list rarely change—they have included Kraft, Nestlé, General Mills (and Pillsbury), ConAgra and Unilever in almost every year in the last decade or so. Once past the top five companies, the lineup may vary, but almost always includes big players such as PepsiCo, Sara Lee, Campbell Soup, Kellogg's (including Keebler), Heinz, Hershey, Hormel and Masterfoods.
Unique for 2003 is that most of the companies in the Top 20 listing experienced increases in the number of new products when compared to 2002 introductions; many of those companies experienced double-digit increases. Kraft, at the top of the list, was one of the few with a very slight decline in new products launched.