UK supermarkets go all out for ‘Jab-uary’ with food for those on weight-loss drugs
Veganuary and dry January are among the new year health kicks enthusiastically endorsed by supermarkets, but this year the buzz is around “Jab-uary” as pricey diet foods aimed at people on weight-loss drugs hit the shelves.Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Asda, Ocado and the Co-op are among the big names targeting shoppers who use weight-loss injections, known as GLP-1 agonists, but better known by brand names such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.Ocado’s new virtual “weight management” aisle includes a “curated range of GLP-1-friendly products” that runs the gamut from tiny (100g) portions of steak costing £3.50 to a trendy “powdered greens” supplement, AG1, at £107 a pack.The online supermarket said it was seeing strong demand for protein-rich staples such as steak, chicken, cottage cheese, health drinks and vitamins and supplements.
Ocado also sells M&S’s new “Nutrient Dense” range of meals, snacks and drinks that it says contain “high amounts of nutrients per calorie”.The £7 chicken satay ready meal and £2 coconut water shot “H₅O”, it says, are ideal for people “reducing their food intake”.Meanwhile, the Co-op is plugging “mini meals” – 250g-280g pots “inspired by global cuisines” costing £3.50 a go.About 6% of UK adults are thought to be taking GLP-1 drugs, said Jonny Forsyth, a senior analyst at the market research company Mintel.
However, he argues the hype around them is having an “outsize influence” on consumer behaviour and amplifying other diet trends, such as eating high protein foods.In the recent flurry of Christmas trading updates, some big high street names said the drugs were starting to change how people shopped.This included eating fewer sausage rolls, and Roisin Currie, the Greggs chief executive, commented that people were looking for “smaller portions” and healthier options.Sainsbury’s has also spotted new behaviour.“For customers using these products, we’re seeing more of that switch into healthier choices, into fresh food, into fibre,” said its chief executive, Simon Roberts.
This month the grocer introduced more low-calorie and high-protein ready meals.The 300g “Small but Mighty” range includes dishes such as teriyaki chicken and costs £3.Ken Murphy, the Tesco chief executive, said the supermarket was watching “very closely” how the GLP-1 trend was developing.Indeed, while total UK grocery sales rose 2.5% in value terms over the four weeks to 27 December, the amount of food and drink sold declined 0.
2% on a volume basis, according to the market researcher NielsenIQ,For food and hospitality businesses the fear is that the widespread uptake of these drugs could put a dent in profits,A 2024 Cornell University study found households with at least one GLP-1 user cut their grocery spend by 5,3% within six months, while for higher-income households it was 8,2%.
Although there were declines in most food categories over the period studied, in some areas they were marked, with savoury snacks such as crisps down 10,1% and an 8% drop in spending at fast-food chains and coffee shops,In the US almost 20% of adults are taking weight-loss drugs,However, can supermarkets turn small portions into a virtue, given consumers are fed up with shrinkflation (where shoppers get less product for the same or higher price)? There is also a question mark over whether people want ranges with “GLP-1” stamped on the front as they may not be open about the fact they are using medication,The Morrisons “GLP-1 friendly” own-label ready meals, which include a chicken casserole, weigh just 280g but cost the same as dishes in its other diet ranges.
The £3,75 price is fairly typical in ready meals, but if one compares the price per kilo it is a different story, said Charlotte Derra, fast-moving consumer goods category consultant,“Morrisons Counted and Protein ranges are the same price for typically 380g v the 280g GLP-1 friendly range,” she said,“At £0,99 v £1.
34 per 100g for the GLP-1 friendly ranges this is at a 35% price premium,” The M&S Nutrient Dense ready meals come in 400g packs and cost £7 (£1,75/100g), which she said was within typical ready meal pack sizes,M&S, Co-op and Iceland have “rightly” avoided explicitly mentioning GLP-1 drugs on the front of packs, Forsyth said,“This is smart marketing because we know from our data that if you group people into a club, such as Weight Watchers, where people feel there is a stigma attached to belonging, you restrict your potential audience.
”The M&S range is the “most likely to do well because its user base are among the minority of Brits who can afford to pay for these drugs privately” added Forsyth, who found it “bizarre” that Greggs had said the drugs were hitting sales.“I suspect it has more to do with people cutting back on discretionary food spend in response to much higher food prices since 2022.Even Greggs’ iconic sausage roll has soared in price by 30%,” he said.The GLP-1 ready meals in Morrisons mean it is now sells four healthy chicken tikka masala dishes.However, in a cutthroat UK grocery market worth £250bn a year, food market product developers are under pressure to react, given the outlook for some food categories is “pretty bleak”, said Mark Whalley, a co-founder of the video insights company Explners.
“UK supermarket retail is dominated by everybody worrying that the other guys are on to something,” he said.The hard part will be convincing shoppers: “Being small is in itself a benefit.That’s what they’re effectively saying when the price doesn’t go down with the portion size.“It’s just whether there’s an actual need for these products, or whether people could just eat a little bit less of the products that they already buy.Does it specifically need a new product, an extra thing on shelf that’s just 100g smaller?”
China blocks Nvidia H200 AI chips that US government cleared for export – report
Suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s H200 have paused production after Chinese customs officials blocked shipments of the newly approved artificial intelligence processors from entering China, according to a report.Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which appeared in the Financial Times citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment made outside regular business hours.Nvidia had expected more than one million orders from Chinese clients, the report said, adding that its suppliers had been operating around the clock to prepare for shipping as early as March.Chinese customs authorities this week told customs agents that Nvidia’s H200 chips were not permitted to enter the country, Reuters reported
ChatGPT to start showing ads in the US
ChatGPT will start including advertisements beside answers for US users as OpenAI seeks a new revenue stream.The ads will be tested first in ChatGPT for US users only, the company announced on Friday, after increasing speculation that the San Francisco firm would turn to a potential cashflow model on top of its current subscriptions.The ads will start in the coming weeks and will be included above or below, rather than within, answers. Mock-ups circulated by the company show the ads in a tinted box. They will be served to adult users “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation”, according to OpenAI’s announcement
Amazon workers at Coventry warehouse tested for tuberculosis after outbreak
Amazon is testing workers at its Coventry warehouse for tuberculosis after an outbreak of the lung disease.A handful of workers from the site were found to have contagious tuberculosis (TB) last year, prompting the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to begin running a screening programme in September.Amazon said 10 people at the site, which employs about 2,000 people according to the GMB union, had since tested positive for the non-contagious, or latent, variety of TB late last year.Some people have TB in their body but do not get ill or have any symptoms – this is known as latent TB. This variant cannot be spread to others, but it can turn into active, contagious TB in the future if it is not treated
Partly AI-generated folk-pop hit barred from Sweden’s official charts
A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation.I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.However, the Swedish music trade body has excluded the song from the official chart after learning it was AI-generated.“Jacub’s track has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify’s own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules,” said an IFPI Sweden spokesperson
Prominent PR firm accused of commissioning favourable changes to Wikipedia pages
A high-profile PR company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief has been accused of commissioning changes to Wikipedia pages to make them more favourable towards clients.Portland Communications, founded by Tim Allan, has been linked to the so-called black hat edits, sometimes referred to as “Wikilaundering”. Several changes were made to Wikipedia pages by a network of editors, allegedly controlled by a contractor working on Portland’s behalf.According to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Portland outsourced Wikipedia editing relating to some of its high-profile clients, including the state of Qatar.TBIJ said it had evidence of alleged Wikipedia edits made on behalf of Portland between 2016 and 2024
Sacked TikTok workers in UK launch legal action over ‘union busting’
TikTok moderators have accused the social media company of “oppressive and intimidating” union busting after it fired hundreds of workers in the UK, beginning the process just before they were due to vote on forming a union.The moderators wanted to establish a collective bargaining unit to protect themselves from the personal costs of checking extreme and violent content, and have claimed TikTok is guilty of unfair dismissal and breaching trade union laws.About 400 moderators in London were fired before Christmas in a process initiated a week before the vote was due to take place.TikTok, which has about 30m monthly users in Britain, strongly denies a legal claim that has been lodged with an employment tribunal on behalf of three former workers, describing it as “baseless”.It said the sackings were part of a global restructuring involving roles in the UK, and south and south-east Asia amid the increasing use of AI to automate the removal of posts that violate content rules, with 91% of transgressive content now removed automatically
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