London, 2016-Nov-18 — /EPR Retail News/ — Over half of all own label breakfast cereals at Waitrose will have significantly lower sugar levels from today (16 November 2016) – as part of the supermarket’s ongoing reformulation programme.
A total of 27 own label cereals will see average sugar content reduced by 15 per cent.
Family favourites such as rice pops, malted wheats and multigrain hoops will all have lower sugar levels with some products, such as bran flakes, seeing sugar content down by 30 per cent. This success means over 90 tonnes or 22.5 million teaspoons of sugar a year will have been taken out of Waitrose’s own label cereals.
Boxes of the reformulated versions will begin to appear on shelves from today with no difference to taste or price. This success builds on the retailer’s wider ongoing reformulation project which has already seen a significant amount of sugar taken out of chilled juices, yogurts, soups, cordials and fizzy drinks in recent years.
Popular cereals such as choco pops, corn flakes and honey nut cornflakes have already seen significant reductions in 2015 and early 2016 – previously removing over 2.5 tonnes of sugar. The latest reformulations build on this work, cutting over 92.5 tonnes of sugar from Waitrose own label cereals to date. The retailer will be cutting sugar in the rest of its own-label cereals next year as part of its ongoing reformulation plan, without compromising on taste or quality.
Public Health England has a target of 5 per cent sugar reduction in breakfast cereals by September 2017.
Dr Emma Williams, Senior Nutritionist at Waitrose, said ‘As cereal makes up 60% of breakfasts this is a great way to help customers reduce the amount of sugar in their diet. Our customers want a healthy start to the day and reducing sugar is one way for us to help them achieve this. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day with many breakfast cereals fortified with valuable nutrients, such as B-vitamins, vitamin D and iron.’
Notes to editors
Waitrose – winner of the Best Supermarket1 and Best Food Retailer2 awards- currently has 350 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 61 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. It combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop – dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. Waitrose also exports its products to 58 countries worldwide and has eight shops which operate under licence in the Middle East. Waitrose’s omnichannel business includes the online grocery service Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitrosekitchen.com for cookware, utensils and kithchen gadgets.
¹ Which? Customer Survey
² Verdict Customer Satisfaction Awards
Enquiries:
For further information, please contact:
Laura Blumenthal
Press Officer, Corporate
Telephone: 01344 826774
Email: laura.blumenthal@waitrose.co.uk
Source: John Lewis