Asda today (16 July) claimed a “victory for common sense” when a UK court dismissed Japanese ingredients firm Ajinomoto’s lawsuit over the retailer’s description of the artificial sweetener aspartame as a “nasty”.
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In 2007, aspartame producer Ajinomoto took Asda to court after the group removed artificial colours and flavours from its own-brand food and soft drinks, which it publicised as a “no-hidden nasties” guarantee.
Describing today’s (16 July) ruling as a “sweet victory”, Asda’s chief merchandising officer Darren Blackhurst said the judge’s decision means the retailer can – and will – continue to highlight that its own-label products do not contain artificial colours or flavours, aspartame and hydrogenated vegetable oils.
“Put simply, we’ve got the cleanest own label products in Britain and today’s ruling means we can carry on telling our customers that. Now we’ve proved it can be done, there’s no excuse for other retailers and manufacturers not to follow our lead,” he said.
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