We all want to enjoy food and drink as it should be, unadulterated by artificial colourings and flavourings, but there are some products where we more or less expect them to be used - such as soft drinks. However, in the Tesco own-label carbonated drinks range there are absolutely none to be found. Only natural colours and flavours are used across the entire range to give family favourites like Sparkling Orange and Cola their distinctive look and taste.
‘We've worked hard to take out any artificial colourings and flavourings from our soft drinks and replace them with natural alternatives, like fruit extracts,' says Sharon Murphy, who is involved in this Tesco initiative. ‘As you'd expect, Sparkling Orange gets its colour from orange juice - but even the traditionally bright green shade of Limeaid, which we've come to know and love, is from completely natural lemon and safflower extracts,' she says.
Much taste-testing was undertaken to ensure the new recipes are just as great as before, so neither you nor your children will notice a difference there. ‘We wanted people to be able to enjoy treats like soft drinks without worrying about what's in them, and that's just what this initiative has done,' says Sharon. ‘And we're not stopping there - our longer term aim is to roll it out over 500 different products - work has already begun on our own-label sweets and crisps.'
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