Sir: The intense debate surrounding sugar and artificial ingredients in soft drinks remains at the very top of the national media’s news agenda.

Fuelled by a sustained campaign from the health profession and lobbying groups, notably Action on Sugar - amid significant long-term health concerns - this high-profile scrutiny is not going away. As such, it’s clear that there remains much to do for both retailers and brand owners.

It’s therefore gratifying to see that the judges of the grocery sector’s leading business awards recognised the size of the issue by crowning Tesco with the Business Initiative of the Year (at the recent Grocer Gold Awards 2014) - for the retailer’s pledge to remove two billion calories from the soft drinks category.

Tesco deserves enormous credit for leading the industry on this issue - for not only making the pledge but for delivering on it - in a single year.

And it is commendable that Tesco plans to remove a further two billion calories in the next 12 months.

For our part, we are pleased to be partnering with Tesco in delivering on this initiative as its elected soft drinks category partner.

Mark Young, CEO, Freedrinks

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