Britain supermarket chain ASDA said on Tuesday it was removing all artificial colors and flavors from its own-label food amid growing concern about their impact on children's' behavior.
We know that our customers, particularly those that are mums and dads, are becoming more and more concerned about what's in the food that they buy," ASDA's food trading director Darren Blackhurst said in a statement.
ASDA is a unit of Wal-Mart Stores.
The chain said that by the end of this year its own-label food and drinks would not contain any artificial colors or flavors, aspartame, hydrogenated fat or flavor enhancers.
There were widespread media reports earlier this month about a study commissioned by Britain's Food Standards Agency which is believed to have linked certain artificial food colors and a preservative to hyperactivity in children.
The FSA will not release details of the study's findings until it has been peer reviewed.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects about five percent of the population. There has been a long-standing suggestion that artificial food colorings and preservatives are linked to ADHD, the FSA said.
Britain's largest supermarket chain Tesco said it had already removed artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners from its range of kids' foods.
"It has always been our policy to keep the use of additives to a minimum and we have had a 'hit list' for over 20 years to help us do this," a spokeswoman said.
Last month supermarket chain J Sainsbury announced it was removing all artificial colorings and flavorings from its range of own-brand soft drinks.
Sainsbury also said it was removing aspartame from its low calorie range and replacing it with rival sweetener sucralose.
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