Sweets and chocolates have been removed from all checkouts at Tesco stores in the UK.
Tesco removed sweets and chocolates from the checkouts at larger stores in 1994, but for the first time, they have been taken away from checkouts at all stores, including Tesco Metro and Express convenience stores, which number around 2,000 across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The move, which the retailer said is aimed at helping customers lead healthier lives and to reduce ‘pester power’, comes as new research based on ClubCard data from Tesco reveals that families with young children have on average the least healthy shopping baskets. In contrast pensioners and older adults are on average the healthiest shoppers, according to the research.
David Wood, managing director of health and wellness for Tesco, said:'Our customers told us that removing sweets and chocolates from checkouts would help them make healthier choices, so from today our checkouts will be sweet and chocolate-free zones.
“We hope this will make our customer’s lives easier, as taking sweets and chocolates off the checkouts will really help parents with young children. As a parent of two young children myself, I know how challenging it can be to navigate the checkouts with children in tow.
“The response we’ve had from parents has been overwhelmingly positive, so it’ll be interesting to see if other supermarkets follow our lead and do the same thing.”
Sweets and chocolates have been replaced by a variety of healthier snacks including dried fruit, nuts and cereal bars.
Every food item that’s on the checkout at Tesco stores will either be one of your 5 A DAY, have no ‘red’ traffic light ratings, be in calorie-controlled snack packs, or be deemed by the Department of Health to be a ‘healthier snack’.
The new-look checkout areas were trialled in in several stores, and Tesco conducted focus groups with customers to find out about which products they thought worked best.
Public health minister Jane Ellison, said:'This is a very welcome move by Tesco, responding to the clear demands of their customers, and raising the bar in the roll out of healthy checkouts.
'This initiative will help people to make healthier choices, which all contributes to reducing the long-term cost to our nation of obesity and ill-health.'
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