Ethical sourcing
We're proud to offer a wide range of ethical and
sustainably sourced food including coffee, fish,
eggs and meat. The numbers below include
branded and own brand; these numbers have
deteriorated significantly in the last couple of
years as a result of huge numbers of lines being
delisted from our inventory due to pandemic
impacts. Covid was still profoundly impacting
our customer base throughout this reporting
year, with many customers removing lines from
their ranges that would ordinarily sit within these
categories.
Obesity strategy
In the last sustainability report we spoke about
the government's commitment to support
people to achieve a healthier weight, for not only
children but adults too. This was in part due to
evidence demonstrating that people who are
overweight or living with obesity who contract
Covid are significantly more likely to be admitted
to a hospital intensive care unit and sadly have a
higher chance of dying, compared to those of a
healthy body weight[1].
In this past year, the government have been
busy continuing their commitments in this area
and have:
Announced large businesses will be required to
display calorie information on menus and
food labels from April 2022[2]. Technical
guidance will be out soon. Promised to legislate
and restrict the promotion of HFSS products
in store entrances, aisle ends and checkouts for
stores and in equivalent locations online[3].
Created new Government Buying Standards
for Food and Catering Services (GBSF)
nutrition standards technical guidance. Within
the technical guidance is new standards around
the fibre content of certain foods and the
provision of healthier options. Set new salt
reduction targets for industry to work towards
before 2024 Scotland has also updated their
School Food Standards with clearer targets on
the nutritional content of the foods that children
should be having at school[4].
In addition to the above, Part Two of the
National Food Strategy was issued, to which
the government is expected to respond shortly.
The Plan recommends the introduction of a
sugar and salt reformulation tax and mandatory
reporting for large food companies.
Updates to the school food standards in
England have been postponed for now, due to
the impact of Covid within education.
We're committed to supporting our customers