Tesco To Reduce Sugar Content In Soft Drinks

Tesco has become the first major retailer to commit to a major sugar reduction programme, the campaign group Action on Sugar has announced.

It is understood the supermarket chain will reduce the amount of sugar in its own-label soft drinks by 5% year-on-year.

The group added that a gradual reduction in the amount of sugar and calories is the best way to cut sugar intake in the UK and to reduce the sweetness so people get used to consuming less sugar.

On its website, Action on Sugar said Tesco had agreed to an "incremental, unobtrusive, reformulation strategy" on soft drinks, which would include:

• Removing all added sugar from the 'Kids' category in September (brand and own label)

• Reformulation of Tesco own-label full sugar products by 5% every year, ongoing

• Removing all 'Added Sugar' from mainstream squash (added sugar has already been removed from own label and Robinsons)

• Focus on water, squash and flavoured water to promote healthier lives.

The group has estimated that a 19% reduction in sugar from all soft drinks over the next four years, would be the equivalent of removing around two teaspoons of sugar per can. This would translate to around 21kcal per person per day, and 477 billion calories being removed from the UK diet.

However, the British Soft Drinks Association has said that a number of companies have been reducing calories in their soft drinks for some time.

Welcoming the news, Professor Graham MacGregor, Chairman of Action on Sugar, Queen Mary University of London, said: "Incremental, unobtrusive reformulation is the key way of reducing calories across all sweetened drinks – merely having the option of 'diet' or 'no sugar' products does not work, particularly for the most socially deprived. We are delighted that Tesco has agreed that this is exactly the sort of action that we need, and all other retailers must follow suit.

"The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP can no longer ignore the fact that the current nutrition policy, whereby the food industry is allowed to police themselves (the Responsibility Deal) is, unsurprisingly, not working. The UK requires the implementation of this coherent strategy, starting by setting incremental sugar reduction targets for soft drinks across the whole sector, with robust enforcement if they do not comply."

(JP)