Our Approach to Health, Nutrition & Wellbeing
Our Strategy
Supporting customers, Partners and communities to live happier, healthier lives.
The demands on people's time and the impact on their lifestyles are increasingly leading to a rise in societal health challenges, such as obesity and mental health issues. A healthy, varied diet is fundamental to a healthy, happy life, but the way we currently consume and produce food has caused diet-related ill health and helped to drive nature and biodiversity loss. It is also a significant contributor to climate change. The good news is a diet that is good for people is also good for the planet and spending time in green space or bringing nature into everyday life can benefit mental and physical wellbeing and resilience.
As trusted experts in nutrition and health and wellbeing, we aim to inspire our customers to make optimum choices by providing healthier products, as well as relevant services, information and guidance.
As part of ensuring an improved and balanced offering, we’ll continue to drive positive change by supporting government product reformulation programmes, advocating for consumer health-related initiatives and working collaboratively with research organisations and NGOs.
Governance
In 2021, the John Lewis Partnership Board established a board-level Ethics & Sustainability Committee, recognising the importance of our responsibility to our Partners, the environment and those with whom we build strong relationships, including suppliers, customers and communities. The terms of reference for this Committee state that its purpose is to “assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities for setting the Ethics & Sustainability strategy in accordance with our Partnership’s Purpose and Values and ensuring that this strategy is embedded into [our] operations.”
The impact of sustainability and risk to the business is available here and more details on our Partnership Board can be found here.
Product Policies
Our product policies are reviewed on an annual basis. They are in place to ensure we keep up to date with the latest nutrition science and customer preferences.
For example:
- Hydrogenated vegetable oils were removed from Waitrose own-brand products in 2006 and are not permitted in any Waitrose foods. We now focus on the reduction of saturated fats from products;
- Artificial flavourings and colours were removed from own-brand products in 2009 and are not permitted in any Waitrose foods.
Responsible Marketing
Our marketing policy states:
- Food and drink advertising is targeted only at 18-year-olds and over;
- Do not use children’s characters on less healthy foods, celebration lines or some seasonal lines;
- Use appropriate portion sizes;
- Provide nutrition information on all recipes.
DATA
Tracking Progress
Our 2024/25 Ethics & Sustainability Report
We will publicly disclose progress on an annual basis on our website and in our annual Ethics and Sustainability report.
| Commitment | Scope | Baseline | 2023 Progress | 2024 Progress | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Increase sales of healthy* food and drink, as a proportion of total food sales |
Own brand food and drinks (excluding alcohol) |
58% (2022) |
61% |
69% |
65% by 2026 |
Proportion of protein sales that are animal-based** |
Branded and own brand food and drinks |
88% |
88% |
n/a |
|
Non High Fat, Sugar or Salt (non-HFSS) sales as a proportion of total sales tonnage |
Branded and own brand food and drinks (excluding alcohol) |
88% (2023) |
88%(2023) |
n/a |
*As defined by our Good Health criteria
**Categories in scope of WWF basket metric
Our Health, Nutrition & Wellbeing Programmes & Activity Areas
Defining Healthy
Choices
Defining Healthy
Choices
We launched our Good Health logo in 2017 as a means of easily and consistently highlighting healthier Waitrose products to our customers. There’s currently over 2,000 Good Health food and drinks in our range.
In order to carry the logo, products must have at least one nutrition or health claim and:
- Not be HFSS (high in fat, sugar or salt) according to the government’s Nutrient Profile Score and;
- Have no red traffic lights, except red traffic lights for naturally occurring fats (e.g. nuts, seeds, avocados, milk and fish);
- Amber saturated fat traffic lights are only permitted when there are no added ingredients that contribute saturated fat;
- Red and amber traffic lights for naturally occurring sugars (e.g. dried fruit, milk).
Additionally, products that do not meet our Good Health criteria must meet nutrition guardrails to carry a nutrition claim on pack, this includes:
- All products with added fats, sugars and salt must be non-HFSS as per the Nutrient Profile Score and;
- Maximum two red traffic lights and;
- No nutrient can exceed 50% RI per serving.
We also track total food sales (branded and own-label) using the Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) which is used by teams across the business for our range planning and healthier propositions.
Helping Customers Make Informed Choices
Helping Customers Make Informed Choices
We believe in being transparent with our customers and providing clear information to help them make informed choices. We were the first retailer to use the government's front-of-pack traffic light scheme in 2005, and we have continued to follow the guidelines for our packaging ever since, providing customers with both informative and clear nutrition labelling. Waitrose food and drink is required to have front-of-pack nutrition labels with few exceptions.
All foods must be labelled with nutrition analysis as sold, with the exception of foods that must be cooked or reheated by the customer before eating, as we believe this is most useful for the customer. Products which must be cooked or reheated before eating must be labelled with nutrition analysis as consumed per 100g, and nutrition must be declared per ‘edible portion’.
We require all products to declare analytical nutrition data, except a few items which can use theoretical data. These include canned jars of fruit or veg, raw, fresh and frozen fruit and veg, and unprocessed fresh and frozen meat.
We carry out surveillance testing annually to ensure nutritional information presented on pack is accurate, and additional testing is required for products carrying nutrition or health claims.
Pricing, Promotions and Incentives
Pricing, Promotions and Incentives
We strongly believe in providing great tasting food with good values while also offering customers good value for money. Our value range, Waitrose Essentials, is our largest and healthiest sub brand, with over 350 Good Health lines.
Over 50% of products included in our New Lower Price waves are Good Health products.
myWaitrose members with a Vitality health or life insurance plan can get 25% cashback on Waitrose products with the Good Health logo.
Collaborating Across the Sector
Collaborating Across the Sector
We collaborate with stakeholders across the sector to drive positive change, share learnings and discuss complex issues. We’re currently working with a number of external partners, including the British Retail Consortium, the Institute of Grocery Distribution, Future Food Movement, Forum for the Future, the Food Foundation, the British Nutrition Foundation and the University of Reading, primarily focusing on healthy and sustainable diets.
Health Across the John Lewis Partnership
Health Across the John Lewis Partnership
Our nutrition, health and wellbeing policy covers the full Partnership, bringing together both Waitrose and John Lewis. Activities under this umbrella include:
- Food and Nutrition for Good Health e-learning, developed in partnership with the British Nutrition Foundation, available to all Partners;
- Working with our national charity partner, Home-Start UK, to train their 10,000+ volunteers. The training helps the volunteers support families with issues including food and nutrition, sleep and financial wellbeing;
- The John Lewis Partnership being awarded menopause-friendly employer accreditation.