Shoppers pan Sainsbury’s wellness aisles over 'inclusion of unhealthy food'

‘The madness of our food culture all in one aisle’

Sainsbury's (Getty)

Shoppers have criticised new Sainsbury’s wellness aisles after they noticed unhealthy food items apparently included on the shelves.

Bee Wilson, food writer and author of First Bite: How We Learn to Eat, tweeted a photo taken in her local supermarket.

“This is depressing. A new ‘wellness aisle’ in Sainsbury’s Cambridge. Contents: sugary biscuits, protein bars, organic cola drinks, slimming shakes,” she wrote. “The madness of our food culture all in one aisle.”

Food writer and 2012 winner of The Great British Bake Off, John Whaite also tweeted: “This is INSANE."

“Is it any wonder that children grow up confused? The best ‘wellness’ aisle is a vegetable bed in the garden or even pots on a windowsill,” another person commented.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson told The Independent there had been a misunderstanding.

They stated that at one of the seven Sainsbury’s stores trialling the wellness hubs, cereal bars were spotted at the end of the wellness aisle.

However, these cereal bars were not part of the wellness and sports nutrition range.

The supermarket said it was going to add an extra sign at the end of the aisle to make the distinction clearer to customers.

When the Sainsbury's wellness aisles were announced in November 2018, the supermarket's food commercial director Paul Mills-Hicks explained that the idea had come from rising demand in the health market.

He said in a statement that “wellness and sports nutrition are areas that are becoming increasingly popular with our customers.”

The company said it was going to begin trialling “wellness hubs” to help customers easily find products to enable a healthy lifestyle.