ASDA today (21 December 2007) announced that it would become the first UK food retailer to remove artificial colours and flavours from ALL of its own brand food and soft drinks.
This pledge, which affects over 9,000 food and drink items, means that any product produced for ASDA will be free from artificial colourings and flavours, hydrogenated vegetable oil and Aspartame from 31 December 2007.
This move is part of ASDA’s market leading approach to ingredients and commitment to making healthy eating available and affordable for all.
This follows research from the University of Southampton, supported by the FSA, which shows that some artificial colours and flavours could cause or make children more hyperactive.
The clean up, which sees ASDA moving faster than any other food retailer, means the supermarket has gone back to the kitchen to redevelop recipes.
This back to the drawing board approach is not as straightforward as it may seem with some problems leaving ASDA boffins scratching their heads.
Take tinned peas for example. Tartrazine (E102) is used to give peas their familiar bright green colour as high heat reduces their naturally green appearance. Most manufacturers and retailers have ring fenced tinned peas as an exception to the no E number rule.
However this is not the case at ASDA where peas will be a paler hue just as if they were cooked at home.
And it's not just peas, other examples of difficult products include glace cherries, which won't be a bright red colour anymore due to the removal of Erythrosine (E127) and cola which will no longer contain Sulphite Ammonia Caramel (E150d) being replaced by malt extract.
To make this pledge possible ASDA has worked closely with its suppliers to ensure taste and appearance is in no way compromised.
To do this, in most cases, all artificial colours and flavours are removed from the recipe then taste and colour profiles are built up using natural alternatives to copy the original.
From now on where flavours or colours are used in products these will be from named natural sources including herbs and spices.
All products affected by the change have been rigorously tested by customers and ASDA is so confident of the taste, texture and appearance of products that they will be offering a full refund to any customer not fully satisfied by the changes.
Andy Adcock, Head of ASDA Brand comments: “We are delighted to be the first UK food retailer to deliver this pledge and are proud to begin the New Year as we mean to go on. We have invested a huge amount of time and effort into redeveloping our ranges because we truly believe this is the right thing to do for customers.”
Sally Bunday, MBE, Director of the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group comments:“On behalf of the many families the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group represents we very much welcome ASDA’s decision to remove these additive from these products.
”ASDA products containing artificial colours and flavours will no longer be on sale from the 25th March when everything manufactured prior to the deadline will be sold through.
