Waitrose has relaunched its food-to-go range with a renewed focus on animal welfare standards, British ingredients, and sustainable packaging.
The refreshed range, which features a new brand design, boasts a new selection of recipes, offering shoppers more flavours including a spicy bean and sweet potato wrap, chicken and piri piri pasta, and a no chicken and pesto sandwich.
Waitrose has also modified the packaging by reducing plastic and making it easier to recycle.
It builds on the upmarket grocer’s move to introduce its first-ever £5 lunchtime meal deal in August last year.
Waitrose senior agriculture manager Jake Pickering said: “Waitrose is number one for animal welfare and the place to shop for quality, delicious British food.
“100% of our own-label fresh meat, milk and shell eggs are sourced from British and Irish farmers and used as ingredients in our sandwiches, salads and wraps.
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“Welfare standards often slip in other shops when it comes to ready made lunch products but customers don’t have to compromise at Waitrose. We are making that even clearer to our customers with our new bolder and brighter packaging.
The relaunched range comes as Waitrose has called on the government to strengthen animal welfare labelling “so people can be in the know about how their food’s been produced, regardless of where they choose to shop’.
“We have seen the success story in terms of demand for higher welfare products with welfare labelling on eggs,” Pickering added.
Defra secretary Steve Barclay said: “It’s great to see supermarkets championing high-welfare products and backing British farmers.
“Food labelling is so important to helping people chose quality British produce, which is why I announced at the Oxford Farming Conference that we will soon be consulting on plans to standardise and simplify packaging information.”
