Tesco commits to phase out hydrogenated oil
Tesco is Britain's biggest retailer. Of every £8 of retail sales in UK shops, Tesco takes £1.
We are now delighted to announce (November 2005) that Tesco is committed to the progressive removal of trans fats from their own brand products. Here is the statement they sent us:
"This is an issue we have been looking at for some time. Tesco is already removing hydrogenated fat from its Healthy Living and Kids range and just last week we have launched a kitchen-cupboard guarantee on our entire range of over 450 ready-meals, which means we have removed all added hydrogenated fats along with any other ingredients you couldn't find in your kitchen at home. Going forward we will seek to use alternatives to hydrogenated fats wherever possible across all own-brand products."
This represents a major step forward. Where Tesco leads, other retailers are certain to follow, for two reasons:
- In the UK's competitive retail market, other grocers are under strong pressure to keep up with the undisputed market leader, Tesco.
- All the major retailers use the same food processors for their own brand products. Once they have worked out how to substitute hydrogenated oil in Tesco's own brand product, they can easily do the same for their other customers, too.
This move will also force manufacturers of branded products to do the same. Otherwise, they would suffer from a perception that their expensive branded products are inferior to supermarket own-brand products.
A victory for tfX?
On 12 May 2004 Tesco made us a promise: that they would begin labelling trans fat quantities on their own brand products. They subsequently went back on that promise. This has been the subject of a tfX letter-writing and emailing campaign - Tesco has received hundreds of letters about this from tfX supporters.
Of course, we don't know how big a role this campaign played in Tesco's decision-making. But it could have been important, forcing the whole trans fat issue into the consciousness of managers and food technologists. On examining the labelling issue, Tesco could well have simply decided that it was easier and better to take the trans fats out, than to monitor their levels and label them.
We therefore call an immediate end to the Tesco campaign on labelling. What Tesco has now committed to do goes well beyond our initial hopes and expectations. Many thanks to all who wrote to Tesco - it shows that we can make a difference!
Products
Many Tesco products do, at the present time, contain hydrogenated vegetable oil, and thus trans fat. At time of writing this even includes includes products in their "Healthy Living" range - though this is to change soon. For the time being, keep on looking at those ingredient labels!
Contact
Website: www.tesco.com.
Email: customer.service@tesco.co.uk.
Post: Tesco Stores Ltd, Cheshunt EN8 9SL.
