Helping customers, Partners and the communities in which we operate lead healthier, happier lives.
Performance highlights
70%
of Waitrose own-brand food and drink sales meet the Good Health criteria.
Making it easier to eat well
78.5% of our food and drink sales are healthier products.
75%
subsidy on nutritious food – and free fruit – in our Partner Dining Rooms.
Supporting Partner nutrition
75% subsidy on nutritious food – and free fruit – in our Partner Dining Rooms.
240+
products carrying the Plant Variety logo.
Eating more plants
240+ products carrying the Plant Variety logo.
Over 100
additives removed from Waitrose own-label food and drink products without compromising quality, taste or safety.
Ingredients in our products
Over 100 additives removed from Waitrose own-label food and drink products without compromising quality, taste or safety.
Our approach to nutrition and health
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.
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 developing nourishing food through adding more fibre and plants 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:
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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;
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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:
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Food and drink advertising is targeted only at 18-year-olds and over;
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Do not use children’s characters on less healthy foods, celebration lines or some seasonal lines;
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Use appropriate portion sizes;
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Provide nutrition information on all recipes.
Tracking Progress
We will publicly disclose progress on an annual basis on our website and in our annual Ethics and Sustainability report.
| Commitment | Scope | Baseline | 2024 Progress | 2025 Progress | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Increase proportion of healthier food and drink sales volume* (tonnes) | Branded and own brand food and drinks (excludes alcohol) | 78% | 78% | 78.5% | 85% by 2030 |
| Sales weighted average Nutrient Profile Score* | Branded and own brand food and drinks (excludes alcohol) | N/A | N/A | 2.0 | N/A |
| Increase the fibre sold from key categories** | Branded and own brand food and drinks | N/A | 4% | 4.5% | 25% by 2030 |
| Increase volume sales of beans*** | Branded and own label foods |
N/A | Baseline | 32% | 25% by 2028 |
| Increase the amount of fruits, vegetables and plant-based foods**** | Branded and own label foods | N/A | 2% | 2% | 10% by 2030 |
| Fruit and vegetables sales |
Branded and own label foods |
N/A | 27% | 21% | N/A |
* As defined by 2004/05 Government Nutrient Profile Model
** Key categories include sandwiches, salads, ready meals, bakery, snacking
*** Includes beans in composite products such as soup, ready meals
****
Defining Healthy Choices
Helping Customers Make Informed Choices
Pricing, Promotions and Incentives
Collaborating Across the Sector
Ingredients in our products
Defining Healthy Choices
We launched our Good Health logo in 2017 to easily and consistently highlight healthier Waitrose products to our customers.
As the labelling of healthy choices has evolved over the years, we are evolving our Good Health criteria. While the focus used to be on low calories and low fat options, we’re seeing customer demand shift towards more positive nutrition and a raised consideration of ingredients, which is why we are expanding our Good Health logo criteria to include ingredients as well as nutrition. Additives and less recognisable ingredients will no longer be permitted in Good Health products.
Dr Joanne Lunn, Lead Nutritionist at Waitrose comments: “Our customers look to us for guidance when it comes to making healthy choices, and this move enables us to support Food Lovers to identify even better choices. The new yellow Good Health logo will be easily identifiable across a wide variety of Waitrose products, and will highlight healthy choices which have been labelled according to the new criterion of both ingredients as well as nutrition.”
Good Health Nutrition Criteria:
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).
Good Health Ingredient Criteria:
- Additives and less recognisable ingredients are prohibited
Nutrition Claims on Waitrose products:
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.
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
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
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.
Ingredients in our products
Ingredients in our products
At Waitrose we are committed to continuously improving the quality of our products in line with what is most important to our customers.
93% of Waitrose Food Lovers prioritise avoiding ultra-processed foods and increasingly check the ingredients list on pack. In response, we are focused on removing ingredients considered markers of ultra processed foods, including additives and less recognisable ingredients.
We regularly review permitted ingredients for our products. Artificial colors, artificial flavorings, and 146 additives—including aspartame—are prohibited in Waitrose products. The full list of prohibited additives is available.
Additionally, we maintain an ongoing additive reduction program, which has already removed over 150 additives from Waitrose own-label products. Our suppliers must provide a clear rationale when additives, for example emulsifiers and stabilisers, are used in any product.
Our health, nutrition & wellbeing programmes and activity areas