Tesco has dropped Robert Wiseman’s Fresh’n’Lo and The One milk lines in favour of a new tertiary brand.

The supermarket has replaced all its Fresh’n’Lo and The One milk with an alternative 0.75% fat version under the Creamfields banner. Two and three-litre variants went into stores last week, with the two-litre version retailing for 6p less than Fresh’n’Lo at £1, and the three-litre bottle selling for £1.50.

The new lines are still being packed by Robert Wiseman, with volumes remaining the same.

Tesco already has a number of food lines under the Creamfields banner, including Dutch Edam and Gouda, Bavarian smoked slices, yoghurt and desserts. “The starting point for this is about bringing simplicity to the brand portfolio,” said David Wood, Tesco’s category director for dairy. “We’ve been using tertiary brands in milk, so this is simple brand harmonisation.”

Offering a clearer proposition to price-sensitive shoppers was key to the switch, said Wood, with Tesco this week also launching a permanent two-for-£2.50 multi-buy on its Pure milk brand.

The move does not signal the end of the Fresh’n’Lo brand, which has been in the market for nearly 30 years, according to a spokesman for Robert Wiseman. The brand was still listed in a number of supermarkets and had various customers in the middle ground, he added.

Tesco’s use of Fresh’n’Lo has been controversial in the ongoing price war, with the NFU particularly critical of the national rollout last year. The supermarket sources own-label milk under a transparent pricing system calculated by Promar, which gives little flexibility to compete on price, and has instead used Fresh’n’Lo to compete.

In an interview with The Grocer this summer, Wood defended the supermarket’s right to operate lower-priced milk brands. “It is incumbent on us to make sure we have an appropriate range on offer for our customers so they will shop in Tesco,” he said.

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