Asda looks to be gearing up to launch a new health-focused own label range, as part of efforts to widen its range of ‘better for you’ products.
The supermarket has registered the brand name ’The Health Kitchen’ with the government’s Intellectual Property Office.
The listing covers four classes, including prepared and frozen meat, fish and vegetables; bread pastries, pasta and noodle products; fresh and raw fruit & veg; and alcoholic and non-alcohol beverages.
Asda has been working to increase the number of “more nutritionally balanced” options available in its stores, including by improving the menu on its Kids Eat for £1 café menu.
It also launched two new plant-based vegan ranges – OMV and Plant Based by Asda – in January this year.
A spokesman for Asda declined to comment further on the listing.
The launch would see Asda become the latest of the of traditional big four grocers to launch more ‘healthier’ own-label options amid a clampdown on HFSS products. Supermarkets have also faced wider calls from campaign groups to make healthy food more affordable.
Tesco is currently undertaking what has been described as its biggest range review since 2015. Part of that includes an ambition to ensure that 65% of its sales by 2025 are of products classed as ‘healthy’. It has asked suppliers to set reformulation targets aimed at reducing the levels of salt and sugar if they have not already done so, and to make healthier products more affordable.
In January, Sainsbury’s launched its own 65-strong Flourish range, which features snacks and hot ready meals. The menu would make “sticking to healthy habits easier” Sainsbury’s said at the time.
The name is similar to Morrisons’ Nourish line of “nutritional” products, which includes ready meals, salads and smoothies, first launched in January 2021. Sainsbury’s has also since launched a new Kitchen Deli to go range, which began rolling into stores this week.
Outside the ‘big four’, Waitrose offers a suite of gut health and vegan lines as under of its Holistic Living banner, launched in 2021. It became the latest retailer to widen its functional beverage offer, with the launch of dedicated bays in a small number of stores in May.
Under current HFSS rules which came into force in October 2022, retailers are banned from displaying HFSS products in prominent locations in stores, for example on gondola ends or near checkouts. However, the introduction of a ban on the use of multibuys or bogof deals on HFSS products has been delayed until at least 2025.
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