Sainsbury’s is looking to capitalize on the growing allergen-free food market with the expansion of its Deliciously FreeFrom range. The improved and expanded allergen-free range launched this week with roll-out of all 140-product lines set to be completed by September.

The allergen-free food market has been growing rapidly in recent years and is worth over £355m in the UK with around one million people suffering from a food allergy. Sainsbury’s said that over half the UK population regularly include allergen-free food lines in their shopping basket.

The improved Deliciously FreeFrom range is part of Sainsbury’s own brand quality investment programme. The range covers all allergen specific groups – nut, gluten, wheat, milk, egg, soya with “simpler market-leading” allergen-labelling, designed to make it easier for customers to see key allergen information at a glance.

Research carried out on behalf of Sainsbury’s showed that the average allergen-free food shopper spends 73% longer to shop as they search for information to help them identify suitable products that are free from specific allergens. Sainsbury’s Deliciously FreeFrom packaging includes colour-coding that clearly shows what allergens the product is free from.

The retailer claims the full range of Deliciously FreeFrom products will rival the breadth and variety of specialist allergen-free food retailers. The full range will be sold in Sainsbury’s larger supermarkets, while smaller supermarkets and convenience stores will sell a wider range than before.

Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand said: “Our new Deliciously FreeFrom range is a perfect example of our constant drive to improve the quality, range, value and provenance of our food where we know it matters most to our customers. We were the first supermarket to introduce own-brand allergen-free products, and nearly a quarter of all allergen-free food products sold in the UK today are sold at Sainsbury’s. The investment to almost double our range by introducing new products while improving existing ones demonstrates our commitment to offer great choice to all customers.”