The UK high-end retailer rolled out its line of reduced saturated fat products in January 2008, coinciding with the Food Standards Agency’s campaign. In order for a product to make a low saturated fat claim, it must have no more than 1.5g of saturated fat or trans fats per 100g, or no more than 0.75g per 100ml. Total saturated fat and trans fats must not exceed 10 per cent of total calories.
Moira Howie, nutrition manager at Waitrose, shared some of the feedback received from suppliers with delegates at last week’s Reformulation Symposium in Amsterdam. She reported that the 10 per cent of calories limit posed a particular technical barrier.
While the developers were able to reduce the saturated fat levels by using alternative fats and other ingredients, it was hard to come in below the 10 per cent of calories level. This meant that, in some cases, the absolute ingredients had to be manipulated, such as increasing the amount of potato in a ready meal and decreasing the sauce.
Another big challenge was in retaining the same precise levels of reduction in products containing meat – when the level of saturates in a meat varies naturally.
On the other hand, the developers reported a positive experience in having freedom to focus on a single nutrient, and on achievable targets.
As examples of the reduced fat products developed for Waitrose, Howie noted the chilled breaded fish range, in which the oil and fat composition has been changed; and the crisps, in which a 70 per cent reduction in saturated fat was achieved. While the latter example is not unique in the market place (branded crisps have seen similar reductions), Howie said that give the popularity of the snack food this “has potential for significant impact on [saturated fat] consumption”.
The main concern in this work was ensuring that there was no loss of shelf life or rancidity in the final product.
Single range
Howie said that Waitrose pays attention to the way healthy claims are presented to ensure they have the most impact. “If consumers see too many claims on products, it becomes like wallpaper,” she said.
The supermarket has a ‘Black and White’ range for its own brand healthy products, which has two classifications within it. On the one hand, it includes ‘better for you’ products’ with reduced levels of fat, saturates, sugar and salt’; on the other, it includes foods that are intrinsically healthy with no food technology input, but for which “consumers want reassurance on why they are healthy, and why they should put them in their basket”.
However Howie added that the consumer is unlikely to see the difference: “The subtle nuances are not understood. The key is that all nutritional claims appear in the signature format.”