Tesco’s decision to restrict or remove 114 additives from its own-brand products puts the spotlight on a challenge facing food manufacturers: how to respond when a major retailer changes its expectations of what should go into the products it sells.
The move reflects growing consumer interest in food ingredients and the debate surrounding ultra-processed foods. For a supermarket with a large own-label range, changes to product specifications can affect multiple categories, from everyday packaged foods to convenience products.
For suppliers, however, the announcement is only the beginning of the work. Reformulating a product is not simply a matter of removing one ingredient. Manufacturers must preserve taste, texture, shelf life, food safety and consistency while ensuring that the revised product can be produced at scale.
The cost of changing a familiar product
Some ingredients perform technical functions that consumers rarely consider. They can help maintain stability, prevent separation, control acidity or extend shelf life. Finding an alternative can require new ingredients, production trials, packaging changes and additional quality checks.
Smaller manufacturers may face a particular challenge if they have limited research and development resources or rely on specialist ingredient suppliers.
Tesco’s purchasing power also gives its decisions significance beyond its own shelves. When a major retailer changes its product specifications, suppliers may consider whether the same reformulation could help them meet the requirements of other customers.
Will other supermarkets follow?
The question is whether Tesco’s approach becomes a wider movement across British grocery retail. Other retailers will be watching consumer response, supplier costs and the practical consequences of changing established recipes.
At ISN, we believe this is a story about the growing influence of supermarket buyers over product development. Retailers are not simply selecting products made by manufacturers; through their own-label requirements, they increasingly influence how those products are formulated.
The important test will be whether these changes deliver products that shoppers genuinely prefer, at prices they can afford. Removing an additive may make a product more attractive to some consumers, but it is not, on its own, proof that the finished food is healthier.
For suppliers, the message is clear: ingredient specifications are becoming an increasingly important part of the relationship between supermarkets and manufacturers.
Editorial note: Confirm Tesco’s full additive list, the affected product categories and the exact scope of the policy against the retailer’s original announcement before publication.
