Sainsbury’s today announces a major step‑up in its long‑standing commitment to help families eat well, unveiling a strengthened health ambition designed to make healthy eating more accessible and affordable for millions of people across the UK.
The retailer has announced a new ambition to add thousands of tonnes of fibre and millions of extra portions of fruit and veg to the plates of families across the UK. It will aim to deliver through a range of new moves that will help families cut through the complexity and put fibrous, fresh food front and centre of every meal.
Healthy eating risks becoming too complicated and too exclusive
The national conversation about healthy eating risks becoming tangled in trends and jargon. From protein hacks to fibre fads, the noise is leaving many people feeling shut out. Sainsbury’s research shows: three‑quarters of people say they understand fibre, yet barely half recognise fruit (52%) or pulses (58%) as sources. Healthy eating has become confusing when it should be clear, accessible and part of everyday life.
A return to basics: fibre, fruit and veg
In response, the retailer is launching brand new Full on Fibre labelling across more than 500 products to help customers boost their fibre intake without the fuss. Over 100 Full on Fibre products currently feature in Aldi Price Match or Nectar Price, such as on everyday fibre heroes such as oats, beans and broccoli. It will also feature on exciting new products launching this summer such as by Sainsbury’s Mediterranean Style Veg Burgers and Spiced Mixed Nuts & Seeds with Apple Granola.
“Healthy eating shouldn’t feel difficult or complex – but for many families, it does. We know lots of people want to eat well but tight budgets, busy lives and confusing advice can make this feel overwhelming. We want to change that. We’re going further to make healthy everyday essentials great value at Sainsbury’s – beginning with fibre, fruit and veg – and tackling the confusion so customers can eat well without having to think too hard about it. We’re aiming to take away the complexity so good food becomes simple for everyone.”
Simon Roberts
Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s
Anna Taylor, Executive Director, The Food Foundation, said: “We welcome the move to roll out a Healthy Start top-up scheme and would like to see this being adopted across all retailers to raise awareness and enable better access to fruit and veg for young children. Setting ambitions to grow sales of fruit, veg, beans and a focus on seasonal British produce is a key step we’d like all supermarkets to make. The focus on fibre is great to see and in line with Sainsbury’s pledge to increase bean sales as part of our Bang In Some Beans Campaign.”
Making healthy food more accessible and affordable
Sainsbury’s is also making fibre-rich food easier to enjoy, with great summer deals on cherries, blackberries, bakery lines and frozen fruit and veg. Until 23rd June, Sainsbury’s will be offering half price on by Sainsbury’s cherries – which provide around 3% (1g) of daily fibre per portion, whilst also offering savings such as 29% off fine beans (almost 10% of your daily fibre with 2.7g per portion) and 25% off oranges (almost 3% of your daily fibre with 1g per portion) with Nectar Price***. More broadly, Sainsbury’s is keeping healthy favourites great value, with 75% of its Aldi Price Match products being healthier or better‑for‑you choices.
To help make sure every child has a healthy start to the day, Sainsbury’s is also helping more school children to enjoy a nutritious breakfast, providing £200 gift cards to schools in the Department for Education’s free breakfast club programme. So far, Sainsbury’s has supported breakfast clubs over 1,250 schools, helping make free breakfasts available to over 300,000 children across England as the rollout continues. Ten million free breakfasts have been served to children across England through the programme.
Supporting families who need it most
For those on lower incomes, good food can often be even further out of reach. Sainsbury’s is working to provide solutions that will support those on lower incomes, including the Government’s Healthy Start Scheme, with a £3 top-up for those most in need.
A long heritage of leadership and a commitment to go further
Today’s news builds on a long heritage of supporting customers to eat well at Sainsbury’s, which includes pioneering traffic light calorie labelling in 2005, advocating for mandatory reporting across both retail and out of home and achieving healthy sales above the industry average for several years. By building on these leading moves in its new strategy, Sainsbury’s aims to go further to tackle the biggest challenges to make sure good food is for everyone across the UK.
