The allergen-free food market is worth around £355 million ($693 million) in the UK and more than half of surveyed shoppers say they include an allergen-free product in their regular shop.
The Sainsbury’s supermarket chain, which says it is responding to strong customer demand for more choice and a broader product offer across allergen-free products, has launched an improved and expanded allergen-free range, Deliciously FreeFrom.
The broadened range of quality products encompasses all allergen-specific groups – nut, gluten, wheat, milk, egg, soya – and is supported by what Sainsbury’s describes as simpler, market-leading allergen labelling designed to provide customers with key allergen information at a glance
Sainsbury’s Brand Director Judith Batchelar says the Deliciously FreeFrom range is a perfect example of the retailer’s “constant drive to improve the quality, range, value and provenance of its food where it matters most to our customers”.
“We were the first supermarket to introduce own-brand allergen-free products, and nearly a quarter of all allergen-free food products sold in the UK today are sold at Sainsbury’s,” she said. “The investment to almost double our range by introducing new products while improving existing ones demonstrates our commitment to offer great choice to all customers.”
Rollout of the entire 140-product range will be complete by September.