- Whole milk and full-fat Greek yogurt sales are up 11% and 21% compared to skimmed milk and Greek style yoghurt a year ago
- Whole food searches are soaring with ‘full fat milk’ and ‘full fat yoghurt’ skyrocketing 417% and 233% in the last 30 days
- Recent Waitrose Food & Drink report highlighted that 54% of those surveyed proactively avoid processed foods*
Waitrose has reported that it’s back to basics for many in 2025 due to a growing awareness around ultra processed foods, with many turning away from low-fat, highly processed products in favour of less-processed, whole food ingredients.
Maddy Wilson, Director of Waitrose Own Brand comments, “There’s been a lot of bad press around so-called ‘healthy’ products which aren’t nutritious and don’t taste great, however the growing awareness of ultra processed food in our diets has seen many customers seeking the basics and embracing a much simpler approach to their diet.”
Compared to this time last year, sales for:
Whole milk +11% more compared to skimmed milk
Block butter +20% more compared to dairy spreads
Brown rice +7% more compared to white rice
Sourdough bread +20% more compared to white bread
Full fat Greek yoghurt +21% more than Greek style yoghurt
Over the past 30 days, searches on Waitrose.com for:
‘Healthy food range’ +500%
‘Full fat milk’ +417%
‘Waitrose block butter’ +280%
‘Full fat yoghurt’ +233%
‘Whole milk Duchy’ +78%
This reflects the wider growing awareness of ultra-processed foods, thanks in no small part to Dr Chris van Tulleken’s bestselling book Ultra-Processed People and its continued momentum in 2024 and into 2025. His eye-opening, rigorously researched account of ultra-processed foods and their effect on our health turned many people towards cooking from scratch, with unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients.
Notes to editors:
*We surveyed a panel of 3,239 customers in October 2024 for the insights in this year's Waitrose Food & Drink Report 2024.
