Tesco cuts fresh produce prices to encourage healthy eating

Tesco is cutting prices on hundreds of fresh fruit and veg products in a campaign to encourage healthier eating.

The Little Helps to Healthier Living campaign, which starts tomorrow and will run until the end of May, will reduce prices of products including apples, bananas and tomatoes. Tesco will also introduce fresh fruit at checkouts to encourage purchases.

During the campaign, the supermarket will give advice on how shoppers can switch to healthier versions of products with less sugar, fat or salt.

It is also running in-store health checks in partnership with Diabetes UK and British Heart Foundation.

Tesco said the campaign was part of its continued commitment to “make healthy living easier”, which has already included removing more than 8,000 tonnes of sugar, fat and salt across a range of 2,000 products including breakfast cereals, yoghurts, and ready meals through reformulation.

Tesco was also the first major supermarket to comply with the UK government’s sugar levy across all its own-label soft drinks, it stressed.

Tesco UK and ROI CEO Matt Davies said: “Our Little Helps to Healthier Living campaign marks the first time we’ve brought together such a comprehensive programme of offers and initiatives for both customers and colleagues.

“With millions of customers across the UK shopping with us every weekend, and more than 300,000 colleagues working in our stores, centres and offices, we have a unique opportunity to help people make healthier choices.

“We know there is still more to do, but hope these little helps make a difference, and we will learn from this month to see what really serves our customers better.”

Tesco’s chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini said the supermarket was considering extending elements of the campaign beyond May.

“We will look at the impact of these price reductions and at things like having fruit at the till and then see if they are things that we could do on a longer term basis or permanently.”

Tesco will tomorrow unveil a new version of its Food Love Stories campaign, with the ad geared towards promoting healthy recipes, added Bellini.

“I don’t think it’s us trying to nudge people but we want to get across to our customers that there are simple ways they can reduce their sugar, fat and salt consumption by making small changes to what they have in their baskets.”