Sainsbury's claims victory in race to ban artificial additives from their products

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Sainsbury's claims today to be the first major store to have successfully removed all the additives from its 12,000 own-label products.

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Additive free: Sainsbury's have successfully removed all additives from its own-label products

Asda responded by saying its range of 9,000 products would be free of the chemicals as of New Year's Eve.

And Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Tesco, among others, are taking steps to eliminate the additives.

The moves follow research at the University of Southampton which drew a link between additives and hyperactive behaviour in normal, healthy children.

The findings prompted a Daily Mail 'Ban the Additives' campaign which has had huge success in encouraging food firms to drop suspect additives.

Under the microscope are the colours tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104), allura red (E129) and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211).

Artificial colours and flavours have been used for decades to dress up processed food, adding colour and taste.

However, they have fallen into disrepute because of health concerns and a drive among consumers for better quality, natural food.

The Southampton experts claim the additives harm the 'psychological health' of children, holding back their progress at school and their ability to learn to read at a young age.

Sainsbury's revealed yesterday that it has removed quinoline yellow and another additive, Green S, from its lime cordial.

Sainsbury's has removed additives from its lime cordial

The store's head of product technology, Cathy Port, said: "Lime Cordial was by far the biggest challenge to maintain the colour using natural alternatives.

"Using only lime juice rather than artificial colours we have developed a natural looking, great tasting product."

Sally Bunday MBE, Founder of the Hyperactive Children's Support Group, said: "We welcome this move. It is good news particularly for our members who are adversely affected by the artificial colours which are used in so many soft drinks."

The changes at Asda mean that its tinned peas will no longer contain the green colour tartrazine, while its glace cherries will no longer be a livid red.

Head of the Asda brand, Andy Adcock, said: "We have invested a huge amount of time and effort into redeveloping our ranges because we truly believe this is the right thing to do for customers."