LONDON -- It's not even August yet, but Tesco is already making plans for the start of the school year, targeting the cartons of sugary juice drinks that many parents put in their kids' lunchboxes.
The UK's biggest grocery chain said Monday that it is removing kid favourites such as Ribena, Capri Sun and Rubicon from its shelves if they have added sugar in their ingredients.
A spokesperson told Mashable that the store is specifically targeting the small cartons or juice boxes that go into lunches. However, it said it would keep selling the same drinks in larger sharing sizes.
"We have a wide-ranging policy on making the products on our shelves healthier," a spokesperson said, pointing to a commitment made by the retailer earlier this year to reduce the sugar content on its own-brand soft drinks by 5% each year.
The change will happen starting in September in time for the first day back to school.
"This is great news and shows that Tesco is taking the issue of sugar in soft drinks seriously, and all other supermarkets should follow their lead", Chairman of Action on Sugar Graham MacGregor said in a statement emailed to Mashable. “Children should not be drinking sweet drinks and parents should make sure they switch to water instead".
The British government advises that sugars shouldn't make up more than 10% of people's overall calorie intake from food and drink consumed within a day.
July 28, 11:50 a.m.: : An earlier version of this article said Jucee drinks would be affected by the change, we've updated the story to reflect that they won't be.