Good morning. This is Casey Jenkins, Vice President of McCormick Investor Relations. Thank you for joining today's Q2 earnings call. To accompany this call, we posted a set of slides at ir.mccormick.com. We will begin with remarks from Lawrence Kurzius, Chairman, President and CEO and Mike Smith, Executive Vice President and CFO and will close with a question and answer session.
During this call, we will refer to certain non GAAP financial measures. These include information in constant currency as well as adjusted gross profit margin, adjusted operating income, adjusted income tax rate, adjusted income from unconsolidated operations and adjusted earnings per share that exclude the impact of special charges, transaction and integration expenses related the acquisition of Cholula and Fona and a gain realized upon the sale of our unconsolidated operations. Reconciliations to the GAAP results are included in this morning's press release and slides. In our comments, certain percentages are rounded. Please refer to our presentation for complete information.
In addition, as a reminder, today's presentation contains projections and other forward looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or other factors. As seen on Slide 2, our forward looking statement also provides information on risk factors that could affect our financial results. I will now turn the discussion over to Lawrence.
Thank you, Casey. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. Throughout the pandemic, we remained steadfast in our focus on our growth, performance and people strategies, While ensuring the health and safety of our employees and positioning McCormick to emerge stronger from the crisis, we continue to execute from a position of strength Through the combination of our business model, the strategic investments we have made and capabilities we have built as an organization, Our broad and advantaged global flavor portfolio, the acceleration of consumer trends that our strategies capitalize on and the effective execution of those strategies, as well as our recent acquisitions of 2 fantastic businesses and importantly, the engagement of our employees have positioned us well to drive differentiated growth despite challenging comparisons as we lap very strong growth last year. Our 2nd quarter results were strong on top of our exceptional second quarter performance last year and also reflect our robust growth momentum on a 2 year basis As seen on Slide 4, we delivered significant double digit 2 year growth rates for sales, adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings per share and expanded adjusted gross profit and adjusted operating margins, even considering increased COVID-nineteen and inflation costs, as well as planned brand marketing investments.
We are driving growth through executing on our long term strategies, actively responding to changing consumer behaviors and capitalizing on new opportunities. We are emerging stronger. As we enter the second half of the year, We continue to be confident in the effectiveness of our strategies, our growth trajectory and that we are well positioned to deliver another year of differentiated growth in 2021 with an even stronger outlook. As seen on Slide 5, we have a broad and advantaged global flavor portfolio With compelling offerings for every retail and customer strategy across all channels, the breadth and breadth of our portfolio across segments, geographies, channels, customers and product offerings, creates a balanced and diversified portfolio to drive consistency in our performance in a volatile environment, as evidenced again by our Q2 results. During last year's Q2, the onset of the pandemic drove a surge in consumers cooking and eating or at home, home consumption, resulting in a substantial increase in our consumer segment demand as well as increases with our packaged food customer include food company customers in our flavor solutions segment.
Last year, we also experienced a sharp decline in demand from our restaurant and other foodservice customers for the away from home products in our portfolio. Our 2nd quarter results reflect the lapping of these year ago comparisons as well as the sustained shift to consumer at home consumption higher than pre pandemic levels and robust recovery from away from home customers. Our second quarter results also include strong contributions from our Cholula and Fona acquisitions, which further extended the breadth and reach of our portfolio with new product offerings, channels and customers. Taken together, these impacts continue to demonstrate the strengthen diversity of our offering and we are confident in our balanced portfolio that will continue to differentiate McCormick and sustainably position us for growth. Now let me cover the highlights of our 2nd quarter results.
Turning to Slide 6. Total second quarter sales grew 11% from the year ago period and constant currency sales grew 8%, attributable to substantial growth in Flavor Solutions segment, partially offset by a decline in our Consumer segment, both impacted by the factors I mentioned a few moments ago. The considerable shift in sales between segments resulted in an adjusted operating income decline of 1% or 4% in constant currency. At the bottom line, our 2nd quarter adjusted earnings per share was $0.69 compared to $0.74 in the year ago period, Driven lower primarily by a higher tax rate. As we stated in our March earnings call, we expect growth to vary By quarter in 2021, given 20 twenty's level of demand volatility and the pace of COVID-nineteen recovery.
Importantly though, we've started the first half of the year with outstanding performance. Year to date, we've grown sales 3% favorable impact from currency and we've grown adjusted earnings per share of 10%. While Mike will provide more details in a few moments, I'd like to comment on our outlook. With our first half results and our robust operating momentum, we are increasing our 2021 outlook for sales, Adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings per share. We are operating in a dynamic cost environment and we're certainly not unique in experiencing cost pressures.
We're seeing broad based inflation across our various commodities, packaging materials and transportation costs. To offset rising costs, we are raising prices where appropriate, Usually, there is a lag time associated with pricing, particularly with how quickly costs are escalating. And therefore, most of our actions won't go into effect until late 2021. As pricing discussions are ongoing, we can't provide further specifics. We have a demonstrated history managing through inflationary periods with a combination of pricing and cost savings.
Now let's turn to our 2nd quarter segment business performance, which will include comparisons to 2019 pre pandemic level as we believe these to be more meaningful than the comparisons to 20 20, given the dramatic shifts in consumer consumption between at home and away from home experienced in the year ago period. Starting on Slide 7, with our Consumer segment comparing to the highly elevated demand levels in the Q2 of last year, sales declined by 2% are in constant currency 5%. Our consumer segment organic sales momentum on a 2 year basis was up double digits, highlighting how the sustained shift consumer consumption continues to drive increased demand for our products and importantly outpaces pre pandemic levels. Our Americas constant currency sales declined 7% in the 2nd quarter with incremental sales from our Cholula acquisition contributing 3 and. Our total McCormick U.
S. Branded portfolio consumption, as indicated in our IRI consumption data and combined with unmeasured channels, declined 26%, following a 55% consumption increase in the Q2 of 2020. The difference between year over year shipment and consumption changes is attributable to 2 factors. First, we under shipped consumption in the Q2 of last year. 2nd, we continue to replenish retailer and consumer pantry inventories that were completed throughout last and we continue to realize the benefit of our U.
S. Manufacturing capacity expansion. Throughout our first half of the year, we restored products which had been suspended at the end of last year and continued to see service levels improve and we're refilling the inventory pipeline. As we have said previously, inventory replenishment will progress throughout the year. Through working with our customers on improving shelf conditions, we estimate approximately 90% of the suspended products are now back on shelf.
We know in the categories most impacted by supply constraints, spices and seasonings and dry recipe mix, there is a high correlation between our share performance and the shelf conditions resulting from product suspension or allocation. Products that had strong supply and remained on shelf performed well And as suspended products are restocked on shelves, we are seeing improved performance. This improvement is somewhat masked due to the lapping of significant overall share gains in the Q2 of last year. Importantly, we continue to anticipate regaining share as conditions continue to improve. Focusing further on our U.
S. Branded portfolio, our IRI consumption data combined with unmeasured channels indicates consumption of the portfolio grew 18% versus the Q2 of 2019, led by significant growth in spices and seasonings and hot sauces, and also includes triple digit pure play growth in e commerce with McCormick branded consumption outpacing all major categories. This is the 3rd consecutive quarter our U. S. Branded portfolio consumption grew double digits in the mid to high teens versus the 2 year ago period, which reflects the continuation of consumers cooking and using flavor more at home and the strength of our categories.
Our key categories continue to outpace the center of store growth rates, favorably impacting not only the McCormick brands, but smaller brands as well. Household penetration and repeat buy rates have also grown versus 2019. And when our consumers shop, they are buying more of our products than they were pre pandemic. And finally, for the Americas, our initiative to reinvent the in store experiences for spices and seasonings consumers With new merchandising elements to improve navigation and drive inspiration is yielding great early results. Where implemented, The category and McCormick branded growth is outpacing the rest of market, and we plan to implement this in thousands of additional stores in the 3rd quarter.
Now turning to EMEA, which has continued its outstanding momentum. We had strong market share performance in 2nd quarter versus last year, maintaining or gaining share in our core brands and markets following the strong gains in the Q2 last year. Notably both Schwartz and Ducro's spices and seasonings as well as Frank's Red Hot grew consumption during the Q2 against a strong comparison doubled digit growth last year. And not only are we retaining new households we gained last year, but we are also continuing to increase household penetration for the 5th consecutive quarter. Our investments in brand marketing and EMEA, which significantly increased in the Q2 compared to last year, are proven to be effective as evidenced by the metrics I just discussed, as well as our achieving above benchmark rates for reach, engagement and click through, for instance, entered digital marketing.
Additionally, the creativity of our Botany Happy Birthday campaign received national media attention in France as well as a prestigious award for its excellence in advertising and design. On a 2 year basis, compared to the Q2 of 2019, We drove double digit consumption growth and market share gains in our core categories and markets, including total EMEA region spices and seasonings, Cottonade Homemade Desserts in France and both Schwartz recipe mixes and Frank's Red Hot in the UK. Since the beginning of the pandemic, our EMEA supply chain has been very well positioned to meet the elevated demand and has contributed During this time last year, China's Hubei province, where our Wuhan operations are located, remained in lockdown through part of the second quarter and our results reflect the recovery from that as well as the recovery of branded food service sales in China. China's food service has almost fully returned to pre pandemic level with restaurant home delivery increasing in popularity. Our consumer product demand declined due to lapping significant growth last year.
In Australia, we continue to see elevated consumption and share gains versus the Q2 of 2019 with Frank's Red Hot and Stubs consumption Growing triple digits and gaining share, the Gourmet Garden, McCormick and Keene's spice and seasonings outpacing the category for double digit consumption growth. Across all our regions, our new products continue to be integral to our growth, and we're gaining significant momentum for their recent launches. For instance, our Grill Mates All Purpose Seasoning and our Frank's frozen appetizers are driving growth in the Americas as consumers have shifted their thinking about convenience from no cooking to cooking easily. And in EMEA, the rollout of our first choice glass bottle into the Eastern European market is going very well, increasing our relevance with consumers and driving share gains as they perceive the glass bottle as a premium to sachets. Moving forward, while we know we will be lapping challenging year over year consumption comparisons in the second half of the year, we are confident that we continue to capture the momentum in our consumer segment.
We have more consumers than pre pandemic, they have come into our brands, are having a good experience, are buying our products again. We are excited about our growth trajectory and expect continued and long lasting growth from the sustained shift consumers cooking more health fueled by our brand marketing, new product and category management initiatives as well as growth from our Cholula acquisition. Turning to Slide 8, our flavor solutions 2nd quarter results include not only recovering from the significant curtailment of away from home dining during last year's Q2, but also the growth momentum we are gaining with our restaurant and other foodservice customers as well as the continued strong momentum with our packaged with double digit growth in all three regions. And on a 2 year basis, our sales also increased double digits in all three regions. In the Americas, our Pona and Cholula acquisitions made a strong contribution to our significant growth in the Q2, and we are executing on our strategy to shift our portfolio to more value added and technically insulated products.
We continue to see strong growth in our consumer packaged include food customers, while executing on our portfolio migration through new products and base business strength. Compared to last year's Q2, Snack seasonings grew double digits with strong growth in core iconic products as well as new products and the innovation pipeline continues to be robust. Consumers rising global demand for hot and spicy flavors is driving growth for our customers' snacks and for our seasonings that flavor them. And with the flavored hard seltzer trend accelerating, we are winning new business and growing our flavor sales for beverages considerably up triple digits in the Q2. Demand from our Americas away from home customer base for branded foodservice and restaurant customers increased significantly due to the recovery I mentioned a few moments ago.
Our away from home rebound in this region is at a slower pace as customer base is more skewed to branded food service. We anticipate our demand from this channel will strengthen as the year progresses and more dining options reopen. In EMEA, as we cycled a significant decline in last year's Q2 from region wide shutdowns, our growth was substantial. Our sales to quick service restaurants or QSRs more than doubled from the Q2 of last year and increased double digits from the same period in 2019, with particular strength in the UK. Turning to our consumer packaged food and beverage customers, We had strong Q2 performance on top of last year's strong growth with growth in flavors for sweet beverages and the hot and.
Additionally, China, where QSRs were open in the Q2 of last year, delivered double digit growth due to significant momentum and limited time offers as well as strength in the core business. Across all regions, we recognize a large part of our 2nd quarter Playware Solutions results were due to the comparison to abnormally low away from home had last year. Importantly, though, our growth also includes contributions from Fona and Chamula, strong growth with packaged food and beverage customers, Both in the base business and in new product wins driven by our differentiated customer engagement and continuing momentum with QSRs, partially from their limited time offers and promotional activities. While we know a portion of our second half growth will still be impacted By recovery, our second quarter results and our effective growth strategies bolster our confidence in returning to our robust pre pandemic growth trajectory in our flavor solutions segment. Now for a brief update on how we're driving growth with Cholula and Fona, Starting with Tallulah on Slide 9.
In our consumer segment, Tallulah continues to outpace category growth and gain share, Growing consumption 54% since the Q2 of 2019. We're using our category management expertise to expand distribution points, including with the 2 ounce bottle size and expansion into new channel, optimized shelf assortment and placement and gained momentum in e commerce where Cholula has been underpenetrated. We are increasing awareness through brand partnerships such as with HelloFresh and DoorDash, as well as through brand marketing investments and by leveraging promotional scale across McCormick brand, including Cholula's best ever Cinco de Mayo promotion would double the merchandising for 2019 and scaled with McCormick's Taco Seasoning. Our initiatives are yielding results. We have grown total distribution points 11% and household penetration 5% since the Q2 of 2020.
We recently launched Cholula wing sauces and also relaunched the green pepper and chipotle flavors with cleaner formulas. And in our flavor solutions segment, we're using our culinary foundation and insights on menu trends to grow our back of house food service penetration by increasing Cholula's menu participation. Since the beginning of the year, we've driven a 63% increase and U. S. National chain restaurant location activating a Cholula branded limited time offer.
We are winning in foodservice. Now moving to FONA. We're excited by year to date double digit sales growth compared to last year. Beverages with particular strength in the fast growing performance nutrition category continue to drive significant growth for FONA, 14% on a year to date basis. We're driving growth with our global footprint.
For example, by leveraging Giotti's infrastructure, we're expanding flavors for our top phone customer into the EMEA region, with the first order being manufactured this month. We're also leveraging McCormick's sustainability leadership to create new opportunities with Fona customers. Combination of our capabilities has created new opportunities to bid on customer briefs that capitalize on core strengths across McCormick and Fona, including McCormick's culinary focus and Fona's speed to market. Fona's year to date new product wins and its pipeline potential have hit record highs fueling future growth. We have also identified longer term opportunities to optimize our combined assets and technologies across the work to expand our capacity and drive further solutions for our customers.
Customer reaction has been extremely positive. They are impressed with their early collaboration and excitement about our increased customer value proposition continues to build. Our enthusiasm for Cholula and Fona and our confidence we will deliver on our acquisition plans, accelerate growth with these portfolios And drive shareholder value continue to strengthen. In fact, we're now projecting the incremental sales contribution of these acquisitions should be at the high end of our 3.5% to 4% guidance range. Now I'd like to share some of our insight on long term consumer trends as seen on Slides 11 and 12.
Global demand for flavor remains the foundation for our sales growth. We are capitalizing on the growing consumer interest in Healthy, flavorful cooking, trusted brands, as well as digital engagement and purpose minded practices. These long term trends and the rising global demand for great taste are as relevant today as they have been in the past, with the younger generation are continuing to fuel the demand for flavor at a greater rate. As we shared previously, our proprietary consumer survey data supported by external research tells us that consumers are enjoying the cooking experience. It provides a creative outlet, makes them feel adventurous, reduces stress and connects the family, and they feel home cooked meals are healthier.
In our recent consumer survey from May, 68% of U. S. Consumers surveyed state they are cooking more today than pre pandemic and 78% claimed they would maintain or increase their level of cooking at home Things return to normal next week with no meaningful difference between those vaccinated and those not. Research indicates continued increased level of cooking in other countries as well. Consumers have formed new habits.
They invested in new kitchen appliances and want to try new things. They want to cook versus have to cook, but the majority of food from restaurants being consumed at home and over 70% of U. S. Consumers are adding their own spices, Seasonings and condiments to further flavor their takeaway or delivered food, channels have become blurred. And lunch is the new meal to prepare at home, With hybrid workplace models more common post pandemic, allowing employees to split time between the office and home, research indicates at home lunch occasions increasing up to 30%.
We believe consumer behavior and sentiment driving accelerated and sustained preference for cooking at home will continue globally and persist beyond the pandemic and combined with the effective execution of our growth strategies will further drive consumer demand for our products in 2021 and beyond. Moving to Slide 13, we are making transformative investments, which will enable us to sustainably meet increasing demand, both for our products and our customers' products. We're investing in our supply chain to expand our capacity and capability as well as increase our resiliency. For example, we are increasing our condiment and seasoning capacity. We plan to optimize our distribution network for their new Northeast U.
S. Distribution center, our largest in the world, and we are in the final stages of building a new UK flavor solutions manufacturing facility, which is on track become McCormick's 1st net zero carbon building. These investments will enable us to remain agile and scalable and deliver the future growth that we expect. Now for some summary comments. First, I'm pleased to share an important milestone for McCormick.
With our overarching focus on growth and the successful execution of our strategy, we have consistently driven industry leading revenue growth, resulting in McCormick being named to the latest Fortune 500 list of companies by Fortune Magazine. Are proud of our sustained performance and being included on this prestigious list. We take pride in delivering our industry leading financial performance are doing the right thing with a responsibility to the long term vitality of people, communities and the planet we share. In May, we were named the DiversityInc. Top fifty Company for the 5th consecutive year.
This recognition is are subject to our emphasis on embracing and leveraging diversity and inclusion globally as well as our broader ESG efforts. In summary, our fundamentals, momentum and growth outlook continue to be stronger than ever. Our alignment with long term consumer trends, The breadth of reach of our portfolio and a robust operating momentum, combined with the successful execution of our strategies, bolsters our confidence in delivering another strong year of growth and performance in 2021. Following an extraordinary year in 2020, Our 2021 outlook reflects both our strong underlying base business performance and acquisitions driving significant sales growth as well as strong operating income growth even considering extraordinary COVID-nineteen costs and our business transformation investments. Our top tier long term growth objectives remain unchanged as we are sustainably positioned for growth.
I would like to recognize and thank McCormick employees around the world for their dedicated efforts and engagement. They've done a tremendous job navigating this past year's volatile environment and ensuring we emerge stronger. With their agility, teamwork and passion for flavor and winning, they drive our momentum and success. Now, I'll turn it over to Mike. Mike?
Thanks, Lawrence, and good morning, everyone. For the reasons Lawrence mentioned, my comments will also include comparisons to 2019. This. Our Q2 performance was very strong. Starting with our top line growth, as seen on Slide 17, We grew constant currency sales 8% during the Q2 compared to last year, with incremental sales from our Cholula and Fona acquisitions contributing 5% across both segments.
Higher volume and mix drove the 3% increase in organic sales, with flavor solutions growth offsetting a decline in the consumer segment. Versus the Q2 of 2019, we grew sales 18% in constant currency. During the 2nd quarter, Our consumer segment lapped exceptionally high demand for our products, driven by the surge in consumers cooking more at home at the onset of the pandemic. As such versus last year. Our 2nd quarter consumer segment sales declined 5% in constant currency, which includes a 2% increase from the Cholula acquisition.
Compare to the Q2 of 2019, consumer segment sales grew 22% in constant currency. On Slide 18, consumer segment sales in the Americas, lapping the demand surge in the year ago period, declined 7% in constant currency, Including a 3% increase from the acquisition of Cholula. Compared to the Q2 of 2019, sales increased 26% in constant currency, With significant broad based growth across the McCormick branded portfolio. In EMEA, constant currency consumer sales declined 4% from a year ago, also due to lapping the high demand across the region last year. Notably, this decline includes growth in our UK and Eastern European markets on top of their significant growth last year, which was more than offset by declines in the region's other markets.
On a 2 year basis, Sales increased 21% in constant currency versus 2019 pre pandemic levels, with double digit growth in all markets across the region. Consumer sales in the Asia Pacific region increased 15% in constant currency due to the recovery of branded foodservice sales, as well as recovery from the extended disruption in Wuhan last year, with a partial offset from the decline in consumer demand as compared to the elevated levels in the year ago period. Sales were comparable to the Q2 of 2019, including a sales decline in India resulting from a slower COVID-nineteen recovery. Turning to our flavor solutions segment on Slide 21. We grew 2nd quarter constant currency sales 34%, including a 9% increase from our Fona tool acquisitions.
The year over year increase was primarily due to a higher sales of away from home products in our portfolio across all regions. Compared to the Q2 of 2019, flavor solutions segment sales grew 13% in constant currency. In the Americas, flavor solutions constant currency sales grew 30% year over year, with Fona and Cholula contributing 13%. Volume and product mix increased, driven by significantly higher sales to branded foodservice customers as well as growth to packaged food and beverage companies, with particular strength in snack seasonings and beverages. On a 2 year basis, sales increased 12% in constant currency versus 2019, with higher sales from acquisitions and packaged food and beverage companies, partially offset by the exit of some lower margin business.
In EMEA, constant currency sales grew 65% compared to last year due to increased sales to QSRs and branded foodservice customers, as well as continued growth momentum with packaged food and beverage companies. Constant currency sales increased 16% versus the Q2 of 2019, driven by strong sales growth with packaged food companies and QSR customers. In the Asia Pacific region, flavor solutions sales rose 23% in constant currency versus last year, led by growth with QSRs in China and Australia, partially due to new products our customers' limited time offers and promotional activities, as well as the recovery from COVID-nineteen lockdowns in countries outside of China in the year ago period. Sales grew 15% in constant currency versus the Q2 of 2019. As seen on Slide 25, adjusted operating income, which excludes transaction and integration costs related to the Cholula and Fono acquisitions, as well as special charges, declined 1% or in constant currency 4% in the 2nd quarter versus the year ago period.
Adjusted operating income in the Consumer segment declined 24% $177,000,000 or in constant currency 26%, driven by primarily by lower sales. In the Flavor Solutions segment, adjusted operating income rose 183 percent to $81,000,000 or 175 percent in constant currency, driven primarily by higher sales. Both segments were favorably impacted by product mix and CCI led cost savings with a partial offset from cost inflation, including transportation costs. COVID-nineteen related costs were are comparable to the year ago period. Additionally, in the Consumer segment, brand marketing expenses increased 15% from the Q2 of last year.
As seen on Slide 26, our selling, general and administrative expense as a percentage of sales increased 10 basis points with the increase in brand marketing partially offset by leverage from sales growth. Adjusted gross profit margin declined 190 basis points adjusted operating margin declined by 200 basis points. In addition to the factors I just mentioned, the sales shift between segments unfavorably impacted both margins. Importantly, versus the Q2 of 2019, we expanded adjusted gross profit margin 40 basis points and adjusted operating margin 10 basis points, even considering incremental COVID-nineteen costs, cost inflation and higher brand marketing investments. Turning to income taxes, our 2nd quarter adjusted effective tax rate of 22.2% compared to 18% in the year ago period.
Both periods were favorably impacted by discrete tax items, with a more significant impact last year due to discrete tax item related to the refinement of our entity structure. Adjusted income from unconsolidated operations declined 2% in the Q2 of 2021. At At the end of March, we completed the sale of our minority stake in Eastern Condiments, one of our joint ventures in India. For 2021, we now expect a low single digit decline in our adjusted income from unconsolidated operations, partially due to the elimination of ongoing income from Easter. Previously, we were projecting a low single digit increase.
At the bottom line, as shown on Slide 20 9. 2nd quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share was $0.69 compared to $0.74 for the year ago period. The decline was primarily driven by a higher adjusted income tax rate. As compared to the Q2 of 2019, our sales growth drove a 19% increase in adjusted earnings per share. On Slide 30, we summarize highlights for cash flow and the quarter end balance sheet.
Our cash flow from operations was $229,000,000 through the Q2 of 2021 compared to $355,000,000 in the Q2 2020. This change primarily resulted from a lower level of cash generated from working capital associated with increased sales, higher incentive compensation payments and the payment of transaction and integration costs related to our recent acquisitions. We returned $182,000,000 of this cash to our shareholders through dividends and used $113,000,000 for capital expenditures through the Q2. We expect 2021 to be another year of strong cash flow, driven by profit and working capital initiatives. And our priority is to continue to have a balanced use of cash, funding investments to drive growth, returning a significant portion to our shareholders through dividends and paying down debt.
Now turning to our 2021 financial outlook on Slides 3132. With our broad and advantaged flavor portfolio, have robust operating momentum and effective growth strategies, we are well positioned for another year of differentiated growth and performance. For 2021, we are projecting top line and earnings growth from our strong base business and acquisition contribution, with earnings growth partially offset by incremental COVID-nineteen costs and the European investment as well as the higher projected adjusted effective tax rate. We expect there will be an estimated 3 percentage point favorable impact currency rate on sales, an increase from 2% previously. And for the adjusted operating income and adjusted earnings per share, we continue to estimate a 2 percentage point favorable impact of currency rates.
At the top line, Due to our strong year to date results and robust operating momentum, we are increasing our expected constant currency sales growth to 8% to 10%, compared to 6% to 8% previously. This includes the incremental impact of the Cholula and Fona acquisitions are projected to be at the high end of the 3.5% to 4% range. We anticipate our organic growth will be led by higher volume and product mix, are driven by our category management, brand marketing, new products and our customer engagement growth plans. Pricing taken to partially offset cost inflation is also expected to contribute to sales growth. We are now projecting our 2021 adjusted gross profit margin to be 80 basis points to 100 basis points lower than 2020.
Our previous projection was comparable to 2020. We are increasing our inflation expectation for the year to a mid single digit increase as compared to a low single digit increase previously. Overall, our projected adjusted gross margin compression reflects unfavorable impacts from sales mix between segments, COVID-nineteen costs and cost inflation, partially offset by pricing as well as margin accretion from the Chula and Fona acquisitions. As a reminder, we price to offset cost increases. We do not margin up.
Our estimate for COVID-nineteen cost remains unchanged at $60,000,000 in 20.21 versus $50,000,000 in 20.20 and weighted to the first half of the year. Reflecting the changes in our sales and gross profit margin outlooks, we are increasing our expected constant currency adjusted operating income growth. Our adjusted operating income growth rate reflects expected strong underlying performance from our base business and acquisitions, projected to be 12% to 14% constant currency growth, partially offset by a 1% reduction from increased COVID-nineteen costs compared to 2020 and a 3 percent reduction from the estimated incremental ERP investment. This results in a total projected adjusted operating income growth rate of 8% to 10% in constant currency. This projection includes the inflationary pressure I just mentioned, as well as our CCI led cost savings target of approximately $110,000,000 It also includes an expected low single digit increase in brand marketing investments.
We also reaffirm our 2021 adjusted effective income tax rate are projected to be approximately 23%. This outlook versus our 2020 adjusted effective tax rate is expected to be a headwind to our 2021 adjusted earnings per share growth of approximately 4%. We are also increasing Our 2021 adjusted earnings per share expectations to 6% to 8% growth, which includes a favorable impact from currency. This increase reflects our higher adjusted operating profit outlook and lower adjusted income from unconsolidated operations, as I mentioned earlier. Our guidance range for adjusted earnings per share in 2021 is now $3 to $3.05 compare to $2.97 to $3.02 previously.
This compares to $2.83 of adjusted earnings per share in 2020. This growth reflects strong base business and acquisition performance growth of 12% to 14% in constant currency, partially offset by the impact I just mentioned related to COVID-nineteen costs, our incremental ERP investment and the tax headwinds. I'll now turn it back to Lawrence. Now that Mike has shared our financial results and outlook in more detail, I would like to recap key takeaways as seen on Slide 33. In the Q2, we drove exceptional growth despite a challenging year over year comparison.
We delivered significant double digit year to date and 2 year growth rates for sales and profit, reflecting our robust growth momentum. We have a strong foundation and a balanced portfolio, which drives consistency in our performance. We expect higher at home consumption will persist beyond the the end of the quarter and we are well positioned to capitalize on long term consumer trends, which accelerated during the pandemic, while continuing the momentum we are gaining in away from home assumptions. Our enthusiasm for Cholula and Fona and our confidence we will deliver on our plants has only strengthened. Our 2021 outlook reflect Another year of differentiated growth and performance, while also investing for the future growth we expect.
We are confident we will continue on our growth trajectory in 2021 and beyond. And now, let's turn to your questions.
Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning, everybody. Hi, Andrew. Good morning.
Good morning. One question to start off with. I know that the last couple of quarters, you've talked about how in some markets that have recovered more fully. So let's say, in China or in Australia, you've had still elevated consumption trends for the at home business even as the away from home business has essentially fully recovered. And I just wanted to get a sense of do you still believe or do you believe that that Represents a reasonably good gauge for how we should expect trends to play out here in the U.
S? Or maybe are there some discrete differences between these markets in that regard that you would want to highlight. And then I just got a quick follow-up.
Yes, sure, Andrew. Well, first of all, we do continue to expect consumer demand for at home cooking products to remain elevated Coming out of the pandemic, we're certainly seeing that all over the world. Our research and survey data with consumers that we commented on just a few minutes ago, all points in that direction and the behavior seems to be bearing it out. Of course, In this quarter, in many developed markets were lapping extraordinary consumption when If you look at the stack 2 year, you can see consumption is still up very dramatically versus then. And just all indications are that that's going to be the case.
We are seeing foodservice recover and it is a bit of a paradox that consumer consumption at home seems to be remaining high and food services is recovering. We don't believe that people are eating more, but we do believe that they're cooking more and that benefits our more ingredient based flavor products.
Thanks for that. And then just focusing in, I guess, Specifically on the part of your flavor solutions segment that is that our sales to other CPG companies. I guess I'm curious if we think towards the back half of the year, would you anticipate that part of your business to be up year over year just based on The elevated consumption levels that we're continuing to see for some other CPG names in the packaged food and beverage space?
Sure. Well, without trying to dissect flavor solutions too much, yes, first of all, that part of the business had largely returned to its normal growth rate towards the end of last year. It has been strong through this year. Within our portfolio, you can't miss the fact that we've done a big acquisition in that flavor solutions space. We're seeing a different mix of products as well, tremendous growth on beverages and innovation around hard seltzers and things like that.
With Fona in particular, we tapped into a whole new addressable market around nutrition and health products. So the portfolio migration is a big driver of our ongoing results in that part of the portfolio as Well, it's really part of our long term strategy to migrate the flavor solutions portfolio to this high growth categories like beverages.
In. Our next question comes from the line of Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.
I wanted to ask about the status of inventories in U. S. Consumer. I think you talked about them being relatively high Or low rather last quarter and the rest of the year, there'll be a little bit of a build there. I'm just curious where you think those inventories stand now?
Did the rebuild help a lot in 2Q? I didn't necessarily hear you quantify that. So I just wanted a little bit of an update there, if possible.
Sure, Ken. And I'm glad to do that and I'll try to quantify it as well here in Q2. Well, first of all, this is an America's Consumer issue. We're shipping to consumption and have been in the rest of the world. Our flavor solutions isn't really impacted by this.
On the Americas consumer, we weren't able to keep up with the sustained demand and so trade inventories. And frankly, consumer pantries have been depleted. And so there has been a need to do a rebuild. You all saw on the shelf that, especially as we came through the end of Last year, the shelf looked pretty rough. A number of you on the call and Ken, I think Maybe you also have written about TDPs and so on.
But we're about 90% of the way to restoring and we ended suspensions. We still have a few products on allocation and demand has continued to be really strong. So we're in some cases Very much hand to mouth on some products. Old Bay is a product that we have That requires a lot of blending capacity and so we're a bit hand to mouth on that one, believe it or not. But in terms of restocking the shelf, honestly, I wish we had done a little bit more in the second quarter.
I I said we're at 90%. We would have really hoped to have it all done. And there is still more work to do because the demand has just continue to remain high through this period. If you just do the math, There's a lot of noise in the year ago numbers. So if you take it back to 20 At the end of the year ago, consumption was up tremendously, but we couldn't ship to that.
Our shipments flagged it a lot. So if we compare back to 2019, our consumption is up and 2nd quarter 18% versus 2019. Our organic sales, stripping out acquisitions are up 22%. I would suggest there's about a 4% inventory rebuilding impact in the Q2 on our Americas consumer business. So it was a factor.
It's not as big as I think a lot of people have
Perfect. Thank you for that. And then I wanted to ask that is helpful. I wanted to ask on flavor solutions. The margin did improve nicely year on year, but still down over 100 basis points versus 2019, Even though your organic sales are up over that time.
I realize we're a little bit apples to oranges here. You've added some businesses. But Just curiously, how are you thinking about, I guess, the drivers of the margin recovery from here and maybe the pace of margin recovery over the next couple of quarters?
Yes. I mean, as you say, Ken, this is Mike. I mean, we had a large recovery on the margin last year, but it pretty much lapped what we did in the Q2 of the prior year. Yes. I think the reality of this as some costs go up as we pass through pricing, you're going to have a natural compression in the flavor solutions business, which we've seen in the past Yes, we passed through penny costs, as we said.
COVID costs obviously hit us in the Q2, although we were comparable to last overall, but there was some segment mix there. We do feel that within the flavor solutions category though, we've along with FONA, that's you know, a nice margin bump, but even within the product portfolio, we see some margin positive as we migrate the business. So as we grow sales more and get that get more leverage for the rest of the year, we're lapping a pretty soft 2nd 6 last year, we're hopeful that will improve too. Thanks, Mike.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse. Please proceed with your question.
Hi. Thanks for the question. Hi,
Rob.
Hi. I wanted to know, in the Americas, We've heard through in the industry that it's a little bit more difficult to negotiate with retailers on merchandising and Pricing, if you've had continued supply problems. Maybe your category is different and because of your leadership, it's different. But What have the conversations been regarding that with your retailer customers? Has it compromised you at all In getting done what you need to get done.
Well, I don't want to get too specific about our conversations with customers Pricing, there is always an amount of commercial tension in our pricing discussions, but we're really confident that we're We take a long term perspective with our customers. They know that we are It's fair that we are transparent in our costs. There is broad based inflation that's recognized by everybody. It's not just us that's going up in isolation. The whole industry is moving.
And so we're pretty confident that we're going to be able to take the pricing that we need. We're going to use all of the levers that we have to address costs. So pricing certainly has to be part of the solution. Yes, but cost savings and revenue management are going to factor into dealing with the inflation issue. And I I think we have pretty strong confidence that these discussions are going to be positive.
I think too, we're continuing to invest in our brand. We're most of the share of voice in the category, which our customers know that, and you saw year to date were up nicely on A and P, and again into the Q3. So that is supporting their business 2.
Okay. And a follow-up question, maybe just for modeling, Mike. Can 3rd quarter profits Still be up year over year, because you mentioned that there's going to be
a lag effect on inflation. I just want to make sure we're getting the phasing right. And then I would imagine Q4, do you have
a very easy comparison to a year ago because of the inventory, Because of the supply chain shortages a year ago?
You're right. We're lapping a strong Q3 last Here, we had about 8% total growth, 9% constant currency. And the consumer business was stronger Compared to flavor last year. So from a segment mix perspective, it's a little bit of a headwind in the Q3. And you're right, the lagging of pricing does help the Q4.
We're also, as I just mentioned, higher brand marketing in the 3rd, because if you remember last year in the Q4, we had a I think it was around a 20% A and P increase, which we've continued in Q1 and Q2, so it would be an easier Q4 comparison from an A and P perspective. A little bit from the sales. The sales in the Q4 for the company were below that 9% constant currency I mentioned before. I think Mike is talking about kind of the shape because we try to avoid giving too specific guidance on any particular quarter. These are our biggest quarters of the year coming up.
And part of our thinking as we set guidance for the year. In.
Our next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein.
And Good morning, everyone.
Hello, Alexia. Good morning.
Hi, there. So I guess picking up on some earlier questions, are you able to sort of quantify what your input cost inflation outlook looks like at the moment. Are we talking about mid single digit COGS inflation, perhaps including the freight component as well? I just want to get a sense of the order of magnitude there and then I have a follow-up.
Sure, Alexia. Our previous guidance was low single digit. We've moved that to mid single digit. And as we said on the call, I mean, the 3 components, obviously, the freight and the ocean freight we've talked about, which is hitting everyone. We source a lot of our products from the Asia market, so those rates are up, but also packaging due to resin costs and things like that going up and then thirdly commodities, but yes, low single digit to mid single digit outlook this year.
Great. And then I'm just curious about the market share trends that we're seeing in the U. S. Nielsen data. It looks as though there's some share loss happening on the core herbs and spices area.
Am I right in that? And do you expect that to correct going forward? Or is it just because of have strange comparisons from the year ago period at this point.
It's a little bit of both. And so could we answer so first, yes, we do expect that will turn positive. In the year ago period, we had heavy supply, heavy through Q2, we were in a great Stock position, we were building inventory for an ERP pilot, and so we had unusually high stock levels of finished goods ourselves going when the crisis hit, which enabled us to have extraordinary supply In the early weeks of the pandemic, I will say by the end of Q2, it was a very different situation. That going into the quarter was strong and so our shelf position was really advantaged. And then, of course, we went through a long period where we weren't meet the demand and our shelf position deteriorated.
We had to suspend items, put Put them on allocation, stop promotion and so on. And our total distribution points declined as a result. And so we're comparing against the period of unusual strength at retail. And In the year ago period and in this period, we've got a time when we're rebuilding that shelf position. Pretty much everywhere where we've been able to have good supply and Good service to our customers.
Our share has grown, not declined. That's the case across our markets in Europe. That's the case in and some categories here in the U. S. The real pressure point has been herbs and spices and recipe mixes, that Yes, where just extraordinary demand ran down the shelf.
And as we restore it, we're confident that our share position is going to improve.
Great. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.
Yes, thanks. Good morning, everyone.
Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning. I want to maybe take a little bit longer term. And some of the kind of key takeaways and points you've been highlighting on the call, talked about the increases in at home consumption could have some sticking power and that uniquely benefits your portfolio. And I'm wondering how, if at all, that makes you think about the long term Organic sales potential of the business. I mean, you have a long term 4% to 6% kind of sales growth algorithm that encompasses a little bit of M and A over time.
So 2% to 4% 2% to 5% organic embedded in that. Do the changes in consumption post pandemic make you think that, that long term organic sales growth potential could be higher Or and if not, why?
Well, I don't think we're going to raise our long term guidance today. But our confidence in that long term guidance is really reinforced by what we're seeing. And There's been a lot of talk about the changes in consumer behavior, but really is an amplification of trends that were already in place that we believe are long term secular trends that underlie our growth and that our strategies are designed to capitalize on, The global demand for flavor has been growing steadily for I don't even know how long. It's tremendous amount. Euromonitor projects global flavor demand to grow at a 6% rate going forward for the next 5 years.
And that is really the foundation for our sales growth. And then if you just think about compared to 2019, underlying global demand for flavor growing in the absence of a pandemic, 6% CAGR, you would expect us to be up 12 Percent. So I think that the performance that you're seeing is really more of a bleed through of what you're going to see in a post pandemic world. Consumers were cooking at home more before the pandemic. We believe that that was accelerated, that that people thought a lot of lapsed cooks had the opportunity to cook.
Everyone learned their grandma and their mother's secret recipes and how to prepare them. Someone in every household has become a very proficient cook. And it's been a positive experience for people. They have It's been an outlet for creativity, it's brought families together, and we think that this is a behavior that is going to be sticky. Younger consumers in particular have leaned towards healthy, flavorful, more scratch cooking, and in particular among Gen Z, a return to trusted brands and brands with some nostalgia.
We think that these are really long term demographic trends are going to benefit us for a long time. So our confidence in our long term guidance is Reinforce what we're seeing happen right now. I think too, it may be another testament to our broad based differentiated portfolio. But if you add to your question about our 4% to 6% constant currency long term growth of which a third of that is M and A. So bolt on M and A, you take that out.
So Kind of highlighting a 2.5% to 4% of our long term guidance. Last year, constant currency organic growth was 5%. This year, the midpoint of our guidance is around 5% too. So we're seeing, I think, as Lawrence said, the acceleration of those trends is reinforcing our belief on that organic growth of our long term guidance.
Okay. That's helpful. And then A follow-up to some modeling question, maybe trying to Rob's question a little bit differently. Just remind us the 30 or so million of ERP expenses Headwind year on year, how much of that's been already incurred in the first half of the year and the $50,000,000 of COVID related expenses that you expect in fiscal 2021, how much has been already incurred year to date, just so we're thinking about the first half of the
year, I think?
Yes, the ERP is mostly going to be in the second half headwind and very little impact year on year in the first half. From a COVID perspective, we have guided to 60% for this year versus 50% last year, and that's mostly been occurred in the first half. And. Got it. Okay, that's really helpful.
All right, thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Peter Galba with Bank America. Please proceed with your question.
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thank you for taking the questions.
Good morning, Peter. Good morning.
Mike, the gross margin, just wanted to go back there, the commentary or the new guidance on Kind of 80 to 100 bps lower. It sounded like in your comments that actually mix Our sales mix moving back to flavor solutions might have been a bigger impact actually than cost inflation. So I wanted to clarify that comment and just to see if there's a way to break out those 2 kind of how they impact between mix and then cost inflation.
Yes, really in the second quarter, it was Mainly segment mix, as we said. I mean, the costs have been rising, but we do, we have taken some pricing, but It's really around segment mix in Q2. It changed a little bit in the second 6 as we've guided Gross margin probably between 90 and 120 basis points if you do the squeeze on the gross margin. 2 thirds of that is really where you're raising sales due to some pricing offsetting inflation and then FX piece has not dropped through the profit. So that's about 2 thirds of that compression.
The other third is some of the lag in the pricing. Costs are coming through in the Q3. We got pricing a little later. So it's a little bit of that. But it's basically 2 thirds due to math and 3rd due to kind of the timing of the price.
Okay. Okay. No, that's helpful.
And then maybe Just two more quick modeling questions. I didn't see in the guidance anything on capital spend for the year or interest expense as well?
Yes, we don't I mean, you'll see in the Q coming out today, capital hasn't changed from last quarter. What's the question, sir? We don't give interest guidance.
Okay. Thanks very much, guys.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Kurzius for any final comments.
Hey, thanks everyone for your questions and for participating on today's call. McCormick is differentiated by the breadth and reach of our balanced portfolio, which has sustainably positioned us We're very pleased with our outstanding year to date operating performance, which proves the strength of our business model, the value of our products and our capabilities as a company. We expect to drive even further growth as we continue to execute on our long term growth, performance and people strategies, actively respond to changing consumer behavior capitalize on new opportunities. Our investments provide a new foundation for growth, while enhancing our agility and our relevance with our consumers and customers, which when combined with our dedicated and engaged employees, positions us well for continued success and long term shareholder value creation. For everyone listening in the U.
S, I hope your 4th July plans include getting together around the grill with friends and family and enjoying some Montreal steak seasoning, French's mustard
and Stu's barbecue sauce. Thank you, Lawrence, and thank you to everyone for joining today's call. And for those of you that might be joining from Canada, happy Canada Day today. If you have any further questions regarding today's information, please feel free to contact me. This concludes this morning's call.
Thank you.