Since 2011 we’ve been committed to ensuring our customers can trust that they can always choose nutritious and healthy foods when they shop with us. Whether that be through increasing our range of healthy foods or helping our customers to increase their veg consumption through promoting new ways to try vegetables, such as introducing our Love your veg range which emphasises the benefits of increasing vegetables in our customers’ diets and guarantee at least one of the recommended five a day. We also have an ongoing programme of reformulation, reducing sugar, salt and saturated fat from our own brand products. We have been reducing sugar for a number of years and work hard to ensure the taste of each of our products is adapted in a way that customers still enjoy it. 

Our ongoing reformulation programme 
Our ongoing development programme ensures we continue to improve the nutrient profile of our products while making sure we never compromise on quality or taste for our customers. 
The first government salt reduction targets came into play in 2003 and since then we’ve worked hard to reduce the level of salt and sugar in our products. Currently, 95% of our products meet this reduced salt target and we’re working to ensure that the remaining products are also reformulated to benefit our customers whilst still offering great quality. We’ve had similar success reducing the sugar content of our products; last year we removed 557 tonnes of sugar from juice drinks – equivalent to 2.2 billion calories!

We continue to make strong progress within key categories outlined by Public Health England and also more broadly. The following are just some of the examples of product reformulation in which we’ve removed sugar and salt from our customers’ baskets:

Salt reductions
• 1998: Sainsbury’s began reducing salt in Own Brand products
• 2003 led the way by developing salt reduction targets
• 9.5 tonnes of salt removed from in store baked cookies and donuts in 2016
• 97% of our own brand products meet the Government’s maximum targets for salt reduction 
• 11 tonnes of salt removed from own brand cereals in 2016 
• In September 2018 the salt content of by Sainsbury’s chilled Cod Fishcakes is at least 40% lower than other retailers’ own brand chilled fishcakes
• In 2017 we removed 23% of salt from our packs of by Sainsbury’s 6 Min Melton Mowbray Pork pies 

Similarly, we’ve also looked to reduce the sugar content of products across all our product ranges. 

Sugar reductions 

• 2014 - 2267 tonnes of sugar removed from our own brand fizzy drinks, high juice squash and premium juice drinks
• 2016 – 13% reduction in sugar in cereal. That’s over 452 tonnes of sugar removed. We also removed  1.5 billion calories by reducing fat, saturated fat and  75 tonnes of sugar
• 2017 – 4 tonnes of sugar removed. 96% of these products count as one portion of vegetables – making it easier for our customers to achieve their 5-a-day.
• 2017 – 29+ tonnes of sugar removed from our tomato ketchups – equivalent to 58 million calories
• We’ve also cut sugar across a wide range of product lines including cereal, sauces, juice drinks and yoghurts

Adding nutritional value 

Of course, reformulation isn’t just about cutting certain ingredients, it’s just as much to do with adding more fruit and vegetables, vitamins, minerals and fibre into our customers’ diets. Our underlying aim is to make healthier lifestyles more achievable so we’re constantly innovating whether that be introducing new products including Omega-3 rich salmon or new ranges such as Little Ones, which is designed to provide all the necessary nutrients for the first 1,000 days of a child’s development delivering at least one portion of vegetables into each meal whilst meeting strict nutritional standards, guaranteeing products contain no added sugar or salt.

Increasing the proportion of these ingredients within some of our most popular products is a vital step to promote awareness of a healthy and balanced diet and to ensure that our customers have all the information needed to make healthier choices. However, it’s vital that retailers and suppliers ensure that products remain balanced after they’ve been reformulated. For example, we won’t simply reduce sugar and then increase fat to maintain taste; we ensure that our products are nutritious, delicious and offer great value for money. 

It’s also important that our packaging accurately reflects the nutritional content of our products. Our pioneering traffic light labelling system is a great example of this; allowing our customers to quickly spot healthier options and adjust their diet and weekly shop accordingly. We regularly test our products to ensure that all labelling reflects the true nutritional value of each product and that labelling is clear and there is no risk of misleading customers. For example, if a product has to be cooked then we will only provide nutritional information on the cooked product so our customers know exactly what they’re purchasing and eating. 

Our approach is simple; we want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to ensure they can enjoy a healthy yet affordable diet.