Wembley SUPA IGA is the first supermarket in Australia to partner with Additive Free Kids and assist consumers in identifying additive free products.
With concerns growing about the negative effects of food additives on kids and the trend for healthier eating habits, this initiative aims to help Western Australian families decipher food labels quickly and easily.
“Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to identify harmful additives on product labels. The labels don’t always tell the whole story,” says Owner/Managing Director for Additive Free Kids, Francine Bell.
Bell said manufacturers are able to list additives by either name OR number, meaning a consumer has to know both to be able to decipher them.
“The current labeling laws allow any ingredient constituting less than 5% of the product to be omitted from the label, which makes it very difficult even for a dedicated consumer.
“For example, manufacturers could list margarine as an ingredient and not need to stipulate all the ingredients included in margarine, if it constituted less than 5% of the product.
“These ingredients often contain additives such as colours, preservatives, antioxidants, but this would not be declared on the label,” she says.
Deryck Kippen, co-owner of Wembley SUPA IGA, said to be able to help parents feed their children healthier food that is free of these harmful additives is really important to the team at IGA.
“We have always been dedicated to offer a large variety of quality fresh and health food options to our customers but we wanted to go one step further. Being able to make something a little easier on parents shopping and contribute with a healthier lifestyle is an important part of the way we do business,” he says.
Products that are FREE of harmful additives were first flagged on the shelves of the Wembley SUPA IGA from the 25th August, with an easily recognisable logo and Mr Kippen said the response from customers had been outstanding.
