Unhealthy item in the bagging area! Supermarket could use loyalty card data to warn shoppers when they are buying too much fatty food
Tesco could use Clubcard data to warn shoppers when they are buying too much fatty food, its chief executive has revealed.
The supermarket boss said he expected to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers make healthier choices by alerting them when they go over their daily recommended allowance.
CEO Ken Murphy said: 'I can see it nudging you, saying: 'look, I've noticed over time that in your shopping basket your sodium salt content is 250pc of your daily recommended allowance. I would recommend you substitute this, this and this for lower sodium products to improve your heart health.'
He told The Telegraph it was 'very simple stuff' which could 'really improve people's daily lives'.
The suggestion likely comes as a positive for health campaigners who have warned that unhealthy eating is driving a costly obesity crisis.
However, the idea that Tesco would seek to influence customer's personal choices has sparked backlash from privacy campaigners.
Tesco's Ken Murphy (pictured) said the nudge policy was 'very simple stuff' which could 'really improve people's daily lives'
Data collected from the Tesco Clubcard could be used to help customers make healthier choices, the chief executive has said
Jake Hurfurt, Big Brother Watch's head of research and investigations said Mr Murphy's comments should 'serve as evidence that loyalty card schemes are based on mass-scale surveillance of customers'.
He said Tesco had 'no right to make judgements' about what is in a customer's basket, The Telegraph reported.
Tesco has said it is not currently looking to rollout the nudge policy.
More than 20million people are currently signed up to the Clubcard scheme which launched in 1995 and gives customers access to better deals.
It comes after a recent survey by UK National Diet found 11 to 18-year-olds were typically getting 66 per cent of their calories from ultraprocessed foods.
Experts said the trend was particularly worrying as these are formative years where habits can become 'ingrained'.
The study by Cambridge and Bristol universities looked at the diets of 3,000 children who took part in in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey between 2008/09 and 2018/19.
A graph showing the proportion of reception children who are overweight or obese by local area
Over a million children had their height and weight measured under the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). Nationally, the rate among children in Year 6 stands at over a third, despite having fallen slightly since Covid began
They filled out food diaries over four consecutive days, noting what they ate and drank both in and outside the home.
The likes of processed meats, crisps, mass-produced bread and breakfast cereals have been linked to increased risks of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart conditions.
UPFs also tend to include additives and ingredients that are not often used when people cook from scratch, such as preservatives, emulsifiers and artificial colours and flavours.
Parents’ occupation, ethnic group and UK region were all found to influence adolescents’ diets.
The average UPF consumption was found to be 861g per day - or 66 per cent of daily energy intake over the period.
When looked at over time, they found intake had fallen slightly from 67.7 per cent in 2008 to 63 per cent in 2019.
Researchers believe this may be due to increased health campaigns urging people to cut down on sugar or fatty foods, and the UK Government's sugar tax which cut the amount of sugar in drinks.
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
The average woman is advised to have 2,000 per day to maintain a healthy weight and a third of the 2,500 recommended for the typical man
• Eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried and canned fruit and vegetables count
• Base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally wholegrain
• 30 grams of fibre a day: This is the same as eating all of the following: 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, 2 whole-wheat cereal biscuits, 2 thick slices of wholemeal bread and large baked potato with the skin on
• Have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks) choosing lower fat and lower sugar options
• Eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 portions of fish every week, one of which should be oily)
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consuming in small amounts
• Drink 6-8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should have less than 6g of salt and 20g of saturated fat for women or 30g for men a day
Source: NHS Eatwell Guide
