Healthy communities

We are passionate about supporting the health and wellbeing of the communities in which we operate by providing quality, service and value at our stores and through our partnerships with community organisations such as Little Athletics.

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Artificial colours & flavours

 

New in Coles Brand food and drink

We are excited to announce our team of product developers and technologists, along with the Coles Brand nutritionist and our dedicated suppliers, have worked hard to remove artificial colours and flavours in Coles Brand food and drink. This has involved removing more than 30 artificial colours and flavours from our products.

Some examples include; Coles Brand Sour Rainbows which now contain natural colour alternatives from apple, pumpkin, tomato, radish, safflower, spirulina, carrot and hibiscus. Coles Brand Lime Flavoured Jelly Crystals which now obtain their colours from curcumin and anthocyanins, and use natural flavouring.

In case you didn’t know, artificial colours and flavours are chemical mixtures that mimic their natural counterparts in some way. They are not derived from natural sources such as a fruits, spices, plants or vegetables.

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Look for the logo!

Look for this logo and buy with confidence knowing you won’t find artificial colours and flavours in these products.

 

What’s next? Now that the Coles Brand team and our suppliers have worked hard to remove artificial colours and flavours, next we’ll be focusing on removing more additives you tell us you’d prefer not to have in your food and drink. Additionally, we are all working hard to reduce the amount of sugar and salt in our products while maintaining great taste and quality!

 

Reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat

The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend limiting the intake of salt, added sugars and saturated fat. Coles has developed targets to reduce salt, sugar and saturated fat across the Coles Brand product range, beginning with a program focused on Coles Brand nutritional snacks and cereals. We are also working on reducing salt in sausages, pizzas and ready meals by reformulating our products to improve their nutritional profile.

 

Health Star Ratings

The Health Star Rating is a federal government front-of-pack labelling system that aims to assist customers make healthier choices when buying packaged foods. The system rates the overall nutritional profile of the product and assigns it a rating, from half a star through to five stars. It provides a quick, easy, standard way to compare similar foods.Health star ratings are currently displayed on over 1,550 Coles Brand products.

 

Product quality and safety

Coles’ range of own brand products includes Coles Brand, Coles Finest and Mix apparel. In FY 2017, more than 80 per cent of Coles Brand food and drink was sourced from Australian suppliers.

Coles works with our suppliers to provide our customers with high quality and safe Coles Brand products. In FY 2017, Coles Brand products were recognised with 51 industry awards for 91 products.

All Coles Brand suppliers use a web-based product and supplier database, Fusion, which allows for product traceability and strict adherence to quality compliance standards such as declarable allergens, certifications and nutritional information.

All factories supplying Coles Brand products are regularly audited to confirm compliance to product safety and quality standards.

During FY 2017, our rigorous Coles Brand supplier testing program completed more than 47,000 checks covering allergens, imported food, residue, organic products and microbiology. We also performed quality checks on more than 4,000 products in FY 2017 at our Store Support Centre and conducted more than 158,000 arrival checks at our fresh produce distribution centres, with an additional 34,000 checks for chilled products.

 

Special dietary requirements

Coles Brand provides a range of products for customers with special dietary requirements. This includes people who require gluten free options and products free of allergens such as nuts and dairy. We also cater for customers requiring vegan and vegetarian options.

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Quiet Hour

In November 2017, Coles rolled out Quiet Hour into 70 supermarkets across the country. Following the overwhelming success of the trial from customers and team members, Quiet Hour was then offered every Tuesday between 10:30am-11:30am at these stores across Australia.

In September 2018 Quiet Hour was rolled out to an additional 106 stores nationally, bringing the total count to 176. You can view the full list of participating stores here.

Quiet Hour provides a low-sensory shopping experience by making changes in store, such as reducing noise and distractions, to help make a difference to customers who find it challenging to shop in a heightened sensory environment.

Last year, Coles partnered with Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) and trialled Quiet Hour at two of our Victorian stores (Ringwood and Balwyn East) to help support customers who are - or have family members - on the autism spectrum.

During Quiet Hour, customers will notice the following changes in participating Coles supermarkets:

• Store lighting will be reduced
• Coles Radio will be switched off
• Register and scanner volumes will be reduced to the lowest level
• No trolley collections and roll cages will be removed from the shop floor
• No PA announcements except in the case of emergencies
• Free fruit will be offered at customer service
• Additional team members will be available to support customers

Together with Aspect, Coles is creating a ‘no-judgement’ shopping space where people on the spectrum and their families can feel comfortable and welcome while they complete their daily shop.

Our team members at participating stores are enthusiastic about the initiative and love offering Quiet Hour to their customers who might benefit from the experience. Quiet Hour is just another way we are achieving good things in our communities and for our customers and team members.