Kerry Foods’ copycat rival to Flora, Smart health, has lost its only listing less than one year after launch, The Grocer can reveal.

Kerry launched three Smart Health lines into Tesco last August - two 500g tubs of standard and light spread, and a 1kg pack of standard spread. All three disappeared from Tesco last month [BrandView.co.uk].

Instead, Tesco has listed two new spreads under its standard own label - Tesco Enriched Sunflower Spread and Tesco Sunflower Enriched Light Spread (both £1.25 for 500g). The new own-label products have a similar design and the same heart-shaped motif as the Smart Health products but do not carry the Smart Health name.

Kerry dairy spreads manager Claire Jacobs said Smart Health had come out of Tesco because the retailer wanted to focus on its own-label lines, but did not say whether the new own-label products were made by Kerry. Tesco did not comment.

When Kerry launched Smart Health last year, it said it was looking to capitalise on increasing consumer interest in health. “Health is top of consumers’ minds and we are therefore targeting a key consumer trend,” Jacobs said at the time.

Kerry was already selling its Kerrymaid and Pure spreads brands in the UK when it launched Smart Health.

By adding a specific health-focused brand, the company appeared to be making a move on mainstream spreads category and going head-to-head with Unilever’s Flora brand.

Smart Health was heavily promoted while on sale in Tesco and retailed at a cheaper price than Flora. However, it faced stiff competition from Unilever, which relaunched Flora in January, and from Arla, which recently introduced Lurpak Lightest, backed by a £10m marketing spend.

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