Asda withdraws diet meals in Slimming World row

ASDA has withdrawn a range of diet ready meals from stores after a legal row with Slimming World.

Packaging on the supermarket’s Slimzone meals, which launched in January, stated the food was ‘free to enjoy following the Slimming World Extra Easy Plan’.

But the weight loss organisation, which has a list of ‘free foods’ it considers healthy and customers can eat while following their diet plans, has sought a legal injunction, claiming they had not endorsed the range and that they were not given enough information to make an accurate assessment of the ingredients.

They said Asda was ‘trading on the back’ of their ‘much-loved’ brand to promote the products, which cost £2.50 and were 50p cheaper than Slimming World meals sold in rival store Iceland.

Last night Asda said the meal packs included a statement informing customers the range was not endorsed by Slimming World, but confirmed it was removing the 12 meals from its 600 stores.

Slimming World said Asda’s decision to withdraw the meals comes before a court hearing next week in which the firm will ‘seek an injunction over the trademark issue’. A spokesman added: ‘Although we repeatedly asked Asda to give us a more detailed breakdown of the ingredients used, they would not supply those details – so we were unable to confirm whether or not the meals would be designated as free food on Slimming World’s healthy eating plan.

‘It’s always been our view Asda were misusing our trademarks to promote the range.’