Asda pulls Slimzone meals in row with Slimming World over trademarks and ‘unreliable’ tests by weight-loss giant
The supermarket chain decided to drop the frozen meals which were meant to be 'free' to eat for Slimming World members
THE diet club that exposed the Porky Lights sausage scandal forced Asda to clear own-brand frozen ready meals from stores yesterday.
The range had been touted using Slimming World’s points system that gives some foods a free pass for members to scoff.
A court case alleging trademark infringement was due to be heard in days. Instead Asda removed all the £3 Slimzone meals from its 600 stores and sent them to warehouse freezers.
A spokesman said: “We take great pride in the integrity of the claims we make about our products.
“Recent information has come to light indicating that the method used by Slimming World to assess whether a ready meal is free or not, surprisingly, is partly subjective and involves more than simply making food with free ingredients.
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“Slimzone was always intended to bring more choice and lower prices to customers shopping for healthy frozen ready meals but because of this new information, we have chosen to remove the range while we consider the best option for our customers.”
The 12-product range includes cottage pie, chicken chow mein and turkey meatball marinara.
The meals had been classed as so diet-friendly they were “free” to eat under the “syn” points system. Last night Asda said they had been removed to protect customers because Slimming World’s methods for calculating the points were unreliable.
The diet giant hit back, saying: “We were seeking an injunction over the trademark issue.”
A spokeswoman for Slimming World said: “We have been open with Asda and our members about the fact that we were unable to give an accurate value for the Slimzone meals, and that our evaluation process for ready meals is complex, and has subjective as well as objective aspects.
“Although we repeatedly asked Asda to give us a more detailed breakdown of the ingredients used so that we could make an accurate assessment, 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.
The rumpus comes weeks after Porky Lights were found to pack nine times more fat than dieters were led to believe.