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November 2012 - Food

A survey recently conducted by the University of East Anglia's Norwich Business School has analysed prices and nutrition data of 6,000 food and drink items sold by Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury's and Tesco over the past year, and has showed that buy one, get one free deals are tilted towards unhealthy products. 

A snapshot survey yesterday found, to use but one example, that Tesco has a £1 'special offer' on boxes of Maltesers and Cadbury's Fair Trade Buttons and Smarties. The study also showed that they were offering price drops as high as 50% on Terry's Chocolate Orange, Cadbury Roses, Thornton's and Quality Street products. 

Sainsbury's offers include a 58% saving on a Cadbury Collection tin, reducing the price to just £5, whilst Asda's current deals include two bottles of Coca-Cola (£1.98 each) for £2.50. 

Britain's obesity rate has risen to 26%, up from just 15% in 1993, with projections suggesting that 60% of men and 50% of women will be obese by the year 2050. 

Professor Paul Dobson, head of the business school, said: "We found a bias towards sugary products for price promotions and that straight price discounts are on average more skewed towards unhealthy products."

Andrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, added, "There's no such thing as an unhealthy food, only an unhealthy diet."

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