Waitrose has relaunched its Food To Go range championing its market leading animal welfare standards and products within the range that have British sourced ingredients with a bold design refresh. Having unveiled its first ever £5 lunchtime meal deal in August last year, the UK supermarket is promoting the use of higher welfare chicken, eggs, beef, lamb and pork in its sandwiches, salads and wraps.
The supermarket is no.1 for animal welfare and has a ‘no compromise’ commitment on standards. It doesn’t just reserve high welfare for its premium lines – it follows the same standards right through to its Essential Waitrose sausages and mayonnaise. It is a champion of better animal welfare information for products sold at all supermarkets to help guide shoppers’ choices when it comes to welfare. Without transparency and strong labelling, welfare standards risk being overlooked and customers, who are otherwise keen to support higher welfare, lose out. This latest move helps Waitrose shoppers even further.
Jake Pickering, Waitrose & Partners Senior Agriculture Manager, said: “Waitrose is number one for animal welfare and the place to shop for quality, delicious British food. 100% of our own label fresh meat, milk and shell eggs are sourced from British and Irish farmers and used as ingredients in our sandwiches, salads and wraps.
“Welfare standards often slip in other shops when it comes to ready made lunch products but customers don’t have to compromise at Waitrose. We are making that even clearer to our customers with our new bolder and brighter packaging.
“We are huge champions of better information for shoppers to help guide their choices in line with their values. We have called on the Government to strengthen animal welfare labelling so people can be in the know about how their food’s been produced, regardless of where they choose to shop. We have seen the success story in terms of demand for higher welfare products with welfare labelling on eggs.”
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: “It’s great to see supermarkets championing high-welfare products and backing British farmers – I saw this for myself recently when visiting a pig farm in Norfolk which supplies Waitrose with high-welfare pork.
“Food labelling is so important to helping people chose quality British produce, which is why I announced at the Oxford Farming Conference that we will soon be consulting on plans to standardise and simplify packaging information.”
The retailer has also announced further packaging innovations as part of the range to reduce plastic and increase recyclability of its packaging, such as with the premium sandwiches grab bag material.
The full updated Food To Go range, which features more options under its Good Health label, will be available in stores from 31st January (with some previous packaging still remaining until mid-February). New options within the £5 meal deal offer include Spicy Bean & Sweet Potato Wrap, No Chicken & Pesto Sandwich, Chicken Shawarma Wrap as well as salads such as Chicken, Harissa & Grains, Tuna & Sweetcorn Pasta and Chicken & Piri Piri Pasta. For those looking for more party food selections, the new range also introduces a new premium and party platter.
*Waitrose has won more Compassion in World Farming awards than any other supermarket. All reared on British farms, they have more space to peck and play. Calves are reared to world-leading standards of animal welfare, game with minimal intervention.
