Tesco restricts more additives to meet rising demand for clean labels

Tesco has increased its restriction on additives in its own-brand foods, responding to consumers’ growing desire for simpler, less processed ingredients and a shift towards healthier options amid wider industry changes.

Tesco has tightened its rules on additives across its own-brand food range, in a move the supermarket says reflects shoppers’ growing appetite for simpler ingredients and less ultra-processed food. The retailer said it has now banned or restricted 114 additives, up from 65 last year, with artificial colours, aspartame and monosodium glutamate among those affected.

The company says its suppliers are being told to use additives only when they are needed for food safety, shelf life or quality, and then only in the smallest amount required. Tesco has spent the past eight years reformulating products in an effort to reduce sugar, salt, saturated fat and calories without, as it puts it, compromising on taste or quality. It has also continued to work on products it says are compliant with rules on foods high in fat, salt or sugar, known as HFSS.

Alice Ritchie, Tesco’s head of healthy and sustainable diets, said the retailer was working to make healthier food more accessible and more affordable. Tesco has also stepped up efforts to make ingredient lists easier to understand, as more customers scrutinise packaging for signs of ultra-processed foods, or UPFs. In a statement, the company said it wants to make it easier to buy whole foods such as fruit and vegetables, whole grains, beans and pulses at prices customers can afford.

The change comes amid wider pressure on supermarkets to respond to health concerns around heavily processed foods. Tesco said its own research shows more than four in five customers are trying to cut back on UPFs, while other retailers have begun to move in the same direction. Marks & Spencer has already launched a range built around short ingredient lists and minimal additives, reflecting a broader shift in how food companies are trying to market healthier products.