Ocado has launched a new ‘Simple Ingredients’ aisle featuring more than 350 products free from artificial additives.

The company brought together a selection of branded products made with recognisable ingredients, excluding artificial colours, emulsifiers, stabilisers and flavours.

The aisle spans categories including frozen pizzas, burgers, ready meals, sauces, breads, cereals, snacks and ice cream, and will be available year-round with seasonal updates.

It also features products from M&S’s Only range, which contain eight ingredients or fewer and are free from artificial colours and preservatives.

Ocado said its team had reviewed the ingredients of each product before including it in the range, with the aim of making it easier for customers to shop without having to check individual packaging.

The retailer clarified that the aisle is not intended to be entirely free from ultra-processed foods, as there is no single agreed official definition of the term in the UK.

Products containing fortified flour and live cultures, commonly used in foods such as yoghurt, are also included.

It also confirmed that items in the new section will be priced the same as elsewhere on its website.

Clariti research found that almost two-thirds of shoppers believe grocery shopping would be easier if they could quickly identify foods containing fewer added ingredients.

More than half of respondents said they were checking ingredient labels more closely than a year ago, while 48 per cent had changed their purchasing habits based on ingredient information.

Meanwhile, 51 per cent said they found it difficult to identify which ingredients had been added to the food they buy.

Ocado’s own search data also pointed to growing interest in simpler ingredients, with searches for ‘unprocessed’ rising 178 per cent year on year, ‘wholefood’ up 133 per cent and ‘natural’ increasing 59 per cent.

The research found that 39 per cent of Gen Z shoppers use social media to find information about food ingredients, compared with 19 per cent of consumers overall.

Ocado Retail senior nutritionist Charlie Parker said: “Customers increasingly want to know what is in the food they buy, but navigating ingredient lists can be difficult and time-consuming.

“We have checked the back of every pack so customers do not have to, bringing together products made with recognisable ingredients in one dedicated aisle, while leaving them to make an informed choice about what works for them as part of their overall diet.”

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