Iceland grocery stores in the United Kingdom are collaborating with Del Monte to support the National Health Service’s (NHS) Healthy Start program, which assists those in need to purchase a variety of healthy food and milk products, including frozen, canned and fresh fruit and vegetables.
This partnership with one of the world’s leading vertically integrated producers, distributors, and marketers of grocery produce as well as frozen SKUs comes at a crucial time, as recent data from The Food Foundation reveals a sharp increase in the proportion of households with children experiencing food insecurity during the past month – which is now at 17.2%, up from 12.1% in January of 2022. This represents 2.6 million children and teenager aged under 18 who live in households that do not regular have access to a healthy and affordable diet.
“As the UK prepares for one of the most expensive winters we’ve had to date, it’s more important than ever to be making every effort to increase uptake and awareness of NHS Healthy Start for low-income young families,” said Zoe McIntyre, Children’s Right2Food Lead at The Food Foundation. “Iceland is doing a fantastic job and we look forward to seeing the results from this campaign.”
The NHS Healthy Start scheme helps those with low incomes who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4 living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland purchase baby formula and pulses as well as fruit, vegetables and milk. They can also get free Healthy Start vitamins.
Products can be bought using a prepaid card, which is regularly topped up by the government so that pregnant mothers and mums with children between the ages of one and four-years-old receive £4.25 per week, while mothers with children under the age of one get £8.50 a week.
To help combat this and ensure that families with young children need not sacrifice nutritional value due to cost, the partnership between Iceland and Del Monte means shoppers can now use their NHS Healthy Start cards to purchase a wide selection of Del Monte frozen fruit products when buying in-store at Iceland or The Food Warehouse.
“Data from the NHS Business Services Authority reveals that full take up of the NHS Healthy Start scheme would lead to tens of millions of pounds worth of additional benefit being administered each year to around 130,000 families in need,” said Iceland Managing Director Richard Walker. “It’s so important that this takes place, when the difference could mean an extra £442 a year towards essentials like food, baby formula and vitamins.”
Most varieties of Iceland’s Del Monte frozen fruit bags are available under the scheme, of which there are currently over two dozen ranging from Blackberries (£2.50, 300g) and Mango Chunks (£2.50, 500g) to Lemon Slices (£2.50, 350g) and Strawberry and Banana Smoothie Mix (£2.50, 500g).
Additionally, soon a number of new Del Monte products will o hit Iceland shelves that are also available to Healthy Start program participants, including Peach Slices (£2.50, 500g), Summer Fruit Salad (£2.50, 500g) and Black Forest Fruits (£2.50, 500g).
The retail chain also offers a 2 for £4.00 deal on all of the above, meaning that shoppers only need to spend one of their weekly top-ups in order to come away with two large bags of frozen fruit that can be taken out from the freezer as required, with the rest put back for another day.
All products will shortly be available in a new packaging design to help shoppers locate these items more easily and maximize use of their NHS Healthy Start vouchers. The scheme is now digital, with cards that are automatically topped up every four weeks with payments. This is advantageous to the paper voucher scheme, which required an expenditure of £4.25 or over per transaction.
