Nisa-Today's is to roll out front-of-pack Guideline Daily Amounts labelling across its Heritage own label range by next spring. The buying group said it had plumped for GDAs over the Food Standards Agency's preferred traffic lights-based scheme because they had now been so widely adopted by the grocery industry. There are currently 50 companies using pure GDAs on pack - eight retailers, 40 food manufacturers and two foodservice suppliers. Major adopters include Tesco, Cadbury, Kellogg's and Premier Foods. Nick Slater, senior trading controller for NisaChill, said that as part of the process of adopting GDAs, Nisa had reformulated many of its Heritage own label lines, particularly ready meals, to make them healthier. "We have a number of healthy choice products that were fine," he said. "But some of the traditional meals such as sausage and mash and cottage pie did need some work to get them right. There was a lot of salt in the gravy." So far Nisa has added the GDAs to its sandwiches, salads and deli fillers. It will relaunch its ready meals by the end of this month, with juices and cheese to follow in September. The whole Heritage range will carry GDAs by April. Slater said it was important for independent retailers to offer consumers clear information on health because consumers had less faith in their health credentials than they did in those of the big supermarket chains. "Small retailers often have to overcome negative consumer perceptions," he claimed. Nisa-Today's has also increased its support for the government's 5-a-day initiative. The group is to offer up to five different fresh produce lines on promotion through its consumer leaflet. The first promotion begins on Monday with discounts on runner beans, vine tomatoes, plums, peaches and nectarines. Deals will be updated every three weeks. "This endorses our commitment to providing consumers with affordable, healthy products in all of our member stores," said John Sharpe, Nisa-Today's MD of central distribution trading and logistics.

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