Page 32 Health and nutrition

As a leading food retailer, we believe we have an important role to play in addressing public concerns around health issues associated with poor diet. We actively consider nutrition in the food we offer, and support a number of educational initiatives to improve young people's knowledge and interest in food. We take pride in serving our customers well and sharing our knowledge, so all our Partners are carefully trained, our products honestly labelled and information made accessible to customers both in-store and online.


Health and nutrition


Ambition
To help customers and Partners achieve a healthy balanced diet through the delivery of quality products, developed with nutritional integrity, supported by effective services and clear messages.


Targets
> Work with suppliers to improve our offer on healthier everyday products and to reduce additives by July 2009
> Adopt a clear black-and-white format for nutrition messages on front of pack throughout 2009
> Continue to use the FSA traffic light labelling scheme on recommended categories
> Continue to expand the Nutrition Advice Service to meet the demand for nutrition and health information
> Remove all artificial colours from own-label products by the end of April 2009


A love of food
Waitrose is committed to educating young people about nutrition and food. It seems consumers share our beliefs, with a recent Ipsos MORI survey of 2,000 consumers indicating that health and nutrition was an area they felt we should focus on. Our passion for food extends to providing practical information about reducing food waste through our support for Wrap's 'Love Food, HateWaste' campaign (see page 17).

Under the 'Waitrose Education' banner, we invest approximately £400,000 a year in initiatives designed to encourage young people's interest in food. The programme, reaccredited by BITC in 2008 and awarded a 'Big Tick', is divided into four key strands:

> Our nutritional tips and meal plans help parents to encourage younger children to eat well-balanced diets.
> The Food for Thought activity pack, developed with Farming And Countryside Education (FACE), teaches secondary school pupils at Key Stages 3 and 4 about the impacts of food production, packaging and transport, and provides teachers with tools for follow-up work. Nearly half (48.9%) of the secondary schools in England have requested the pack.
> Our dedicated food studios in our Southend, Salisbury and Cheltenham shops and the mobile Waitrose Food Pod provide advice, information and free educational workshops to children, reaching 550 schools. To date, a further 17 events have been held in 2008.
> We sponsor the Academy of Culinary Arts Specialised Chef's Scholarship, which has helped 189 apprentices graduate from a three-year diploma course at Bournemouth and Poole College. This course includes practical experience through visits to suppliers, buyers, Waitrose nutritionists and the Leckford Estate.

More information can be found on www.waitrose.com
More information and detailed data can be found on www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk

See the John Lewis CSR report for more information on our sister company's commitment to the customer experience