Poor diets in the UK harm both health and the environment - food and drink contribute 35% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. We recognise the significant and positive role in shifting consumers closer towards national dietary guidelines to improve their health and reduce the environmental impact of their shop. To support our mission, we have developed a four pillar strategy:
By promoting plant-based, fibre-rich options while reducing high-fat, sugary and salty choices, we can improve health and minimise environmental impact. Our approach has been developed in collaboration with key external stakeholders to ensure we are as closely aligned as possible to the reporting requirements of investors, NGOs and government.
Increase sales of plant-based proteins to rebalance the ratio with animal protein.
We established a 2023 baseline year for reporting our healthy sustainable diets targets, using sales by volume (tonnes) as the key metric.
Protein definition: This includes primary and minimally processed protein foods (excluding composite dishes), which are split into three categories: Livestock (animal-derived and dairy), seafood and plant.
Increase sales of healthy food and beverages in alignment with the government’s healthy eating guidelines.
We use the UK Nutrient Profiling Model definition of ‘healthy’, which defines healthy food and drinks as not being high in fat, salt or sugar (non-HFSS). Category exclusions include non-food products, baby food or formula, and alcohol. We are working on the baseline.
Increase sales of fruit and vegetables as a key indicator of the healthiness of our customer baskets.
The definition of fruit and vegetables follows the five-a-day definitions, and includes fresh, frozen, tinned, dried, 100% juice and smoothies; composite dishes have not been included. In 2023, 24.3% of our total food sales were of fruit (12%) and vegetables (12.3%).
We are committed to inspiring healthier choices and building stronger communities. As part of our key partnership with the Soil Association, we have a ‘Farm to Fork Ambassadors programme’ - encouraging people providing healthy and sustainable food to share their stories and experiences with others in the industry.
Through our support of UK non-profit Veg Power and the Food Foundation's Peas Please campaigns including 'Eat them to defeat them', we encourage young children and adults to embrace vegetables.
Our charity partner, Community Shop, brings recipes to the community through Family Cook Clubs, promoting healthy cooking skills and fostering confidence in nutritious eating.
We believe that partnering with key nutrition and health stakeholders is critical to help us achieve our goals and provide us with objective feedback and council. We are participatory members of the British Retail Consortium's Nutrition Working Group and the IGD's Industry Nutrition Strategy Group. We are members of the British Nutrition Foundation, Anaphylaxis UK, WWF and Campden BRI.
We are committed to achieve the government's nutrient reduction targets for our Own Range products where there is no compromise to product safety or quality. Eighty percent of Ocado Own Range eligible products are below the maximum 2024 salt target, and 100% meet the 2024 maximum calorie targets. For more information see Ocado Own Range Nutrition Factsheet.
We have a larger range of vegan and organic products than any other supermarket.
We are committed to the Food Foundation’s Veg pledge, to increase our Ocado Own Range fresh vegetables by 10% and ensure all the main meal recipes in our Ocado Life Magazine contain at least one portion of vegetables.
We offer a wide range of healthy, sustainable and affordable recipes to encourage and inspire our customers to cook.
