Memorandum by J Sainsbury plc (WP 43)
| Sainsbury's welcomes this opportunity to share their views on some of the key measures in the Public Health White Paper relating to their business. Sainsbury's is Britain's longest-standing food retailer serving over 11 million customers a week through its 583 stores throughout the country.[85] The White Paper, the consultations preceding it, as well as the work of the Committee have helped to stimulate an informed discussion around food and health in the UK and the policies which should be implemented in response to the challenges of we face. The White Paper covers a wide range of issues and we have chosen to respond to those areas where our customer interests and understanding are strongest.
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OVERVIEW
1. The White Paper outlined several areas for action
within the food industry including in healthier own brand product
development[86] and working
with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and food industry to develop
nutritional criteria and signposting for food to help consumers
make healthy choices.[87]
We are aware that the British Retail Consortium will be providing
the Committee with an industry wide response on a number of issues
and support their positioning.
2. Sainsbury's own initiatives have focused on helping
consumer understanding and reducing salt in our key products as
well as a range of other initiatives, especially on children's
food and education, which we have outlined below.
3. Sainsbury's will continue to work closely with the
Department of Health on their national Food and Health Action
Plan, the Department for Education and Skills, Scottish Executive
and the Food Standards Authority as well as health professionals
and education organisations to ensure, where possible, we can
help all consumers improve their diet and live more healthily.
LABELLING
4. Our customers tell us that they are increasingly concerned
about the nutritional make-up of their food. The White Paper pledges
that the Department of Health and FSA will work together to introduce
a system that could be used as a standard basis for signposting
food.[88] Whilst we would
support the introduction of basic standards we believe that attempts
to oversimplify could be confusing.
WHEEL OF
HEALTH
5. We feel it is important industry takes the lead in
providing their customers with honest, accurate, easy to read
labelling including full nutrition information and healthy hints
on all our products wherever possible. Following extensive customer
research and engagement about what information they need, Sainsbury's
has developed a new, innovative labelling system to help customers
make healthier food choices called the Wheel of Health.
6. Our research shows that providing information in this
format helps customers to identify specific nutrient concerns
they have, eg. saturated fat or salt, to identify foods to suit
their individual needs. In addition as individual foods vary in
their calorific and nutrient value we believe this system encourages
customers to choose a wide variety of different foods and as far
as possible does not demonise individual foods as good or bad.
7. The Wheel of Health appears on the front of
pack labelling and features five key nutrients which are colour
coded as red—think, orange—ok or green—go. The
contribution of five nutrients to the Guideline Daily Amounts
(GDAs) is shown—salt, fat, saturated fat, added sugars and
the number of calories per serving. These are key nutrients which
we believe must be included to enable customers to make an informed
choice and reduce the threat of an obesity epidemic. We launched
this new labelling initially on 30 products from January 2005.
An example of which can be seen below.
8. On the back of the product we state how these amounts
compare with the GDAs for healthy eating.
9. The colours demonstrate the contribution of these
nutrients towards the "Guideline Daily Amount" which
will help highlight to customers how individual foods contribute
to their daily food intake.
10. Sainsbury's have worked closely with the FSA during
our development of the Wheel of Health and continue to
share information with them.
FIVE A DAY
11. Sainsbury's also supports the Government's 5 a day
campaign. In May 2003 we introduced a 5 a day logo that clearly
highlights the number of portions of fruit and vegetables contained
within a portion of our own label products.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Salt Reduction Campaign
12. Sainsbury's places a great deal of importance on
reducing the salt in our own brand products and we have been active
in this area for many years. We took the lead back in 1994 by
introducing the Healthy Balance symbol on food with limited amounts
of fat and saturates and limited amounts of added sugar and sodium.
In October 1999 we launched our salt reduction initiative, which
aims to reduce the salt content of own brand foods by 10-15% without
compromising on safety or eating quality.
13. Since March 2001, in response to consumer research,
we started to introduce information about salt into the Nutrition
Panel, along with salt Guideline Daily Amounts, where space permits.
Whilst legally, sodium has to be declared on the nutrition panel
on a label, we found that the term was only understood by the
minority, with "salt" being the preferred term.
14. In 2004 Sainsbury's launched a three year strategy
for reducing salt in five key product categories; sandwiches,
pizzas, ready meals, soups and breakfast cereals which has been
welcomed by the Food Standards Agency and Department of Health.
Targets have been set in consultation with the FSA, setting upper
salt limits for our own label products in these categories. We
have fully achieved our year 1 targets and are now focusing on
achieving this year challenging targets while maintaining the
quality, taste and safety of our products. We are aware that the
FSA have revised their salt reduction model and are currently
reviewing our own targets against this.
ACTIVE KIDS
CAMPAIGN
15. With the continued national debate surrounding physical
activity amongst children Sainsbury's has developed a major new
campaign that aims to inspire pupils and teachers alike to get
more active. The Sainsbury's Active Kids campaign delivers real
benefits in the form of equipment, kit and experiences that go
beyond the traditional curriculum based sports and PE lessons,
for all types of schools and for all ages and abilities.
16. From 2 March 2005 until 30 June 2005, every time
a customer spends £10 at Sainsbury's or Sainsbury's To You
(our internet shopping website) they will receive one Active Kids
voucher.
17. As a major food retailer we believe it is important
that we offer our customers choice but we are also committed to
encouraging them to make healthier choices. As an added bonus
therefore one extra Active Kids voucher will be issued for every
£5 spent on fresh fruit and vegetables to help encourage
healthy eating.
18. Schools can use vouchers to redeem against a wide
range of active equipment and kit—from footballs to space
hoppers and trampolines. There is also the chance to use the vouchers
to take groups of children to experience a range of activities
such as ice-skating, scuba diving and ten-pin bowling. In addition
we will also be heavily investing in coaching for primary school
teachers.
19. Sainsbury's Active Kids is open to all primary and
secondary schools in the UK—this is approximately 35,000
schools and a potential 10 million pupils.
20. We have been in liaison with Government officials
about these plans and see them as complementary to the Government's
drive to extending the range and scope of physical exercise in
schools.
CONCLUSION
21. Sainsbury's would be happy to provide further information
to the Committee on any of these initiatives. In addition, you
will find a number of other initiatives outlined in the Annex.
January 2006
85
Figures correct at March 2004. Back
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Page 31, Choosing Health. Back
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Page 25, Choosing Health. Back
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Page 25, Choosing Health. Back
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