Latest news with #MamiaFirstInfantFormula
Metro
5 days ago
- Business
- Metro
Aldi freezes price of baby formula for the rest of 2025
Aldi has pledged to keep its own-brand baby formula at £6.99 a tin for 'at least' the rest of the year. The supermarket made headlines last year after cutting the price within 48 hours of Iceland announcing its own plans to make milk more affordable for parents. Their Mamia milk is now even cheaper, and they say it is £5 less than the average sold elsewhere. Infant formula is required by law to meet the same standards, so all brands will give roughly the same nutrition, although some use goat milk or organic ingredients. However, the high price of formula has been in the spotlight, following Metro's Formula for Change campaign in partnership with the charity Feed. In April, the team went to parliament with over 100,000 signatures, urging for changes in the law to make it more accessible and affordable. The campaign urged the government to 'give retailers the green light to accept loyalty points, grocery vouchers provided by foodbanks and local authorities, and store gift cards as payment for infant formula'. Following Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommendations, the government is expected to make an announcement soon about what they will do to help parents with formula costs. Since 2021, the cost of formula has skyrocketed. The most expensive brand on the market, Aptamil Advanced, is now sold for £18 a tub. Desperate parents have been reduced to watering it down, going hungry themselves, and even stealing tubs off shop shelves, to ensure their babies get fed. While the World Health Organisation recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life, there are many reasons why a parent might not do that, from adoption and cancer treatments to personal choice. In February, the CMA released a report which found prices for infant formula increased by over 25% between March 2021 and April 2023. It said this could be due to 'weak or ineffective competition', with sellers not given enough incentives to offer it at lower prices. There are also 'limited own-label alternatives', unlike for most other groceries, it added. They recommended that shoppers should be able to use loyalty points and gift cards to buy formula, although said the restrictions on advertising and promotions should remain. More Trending Aldi, the UK's fourth largest supermarket, said it made the commitment ahead of the government's expected response to the report. Julie Ashfield, Aldi's chief commercial officer, said: 'Shoppers should not be paying over the odds for the essentials. 'As the UK's cheapest supermarket, we're committed to keeping prices low on the products our customers rely on most. 'As formula prices remain at historic highs across the market, we want to reassure parents that at Aldi, there will be no unwelcome surprises at the checkout – we're keeping our Mamia First Infant Formula at just £6.99 for at least the remainder of this year.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: I cried when my child came out as trans – now I understand MORE: The Doctor Who finale will 'shock and terrify' — here's what parents need to know MORE: Days after my son's birth, I made a life-changing realisation
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Aldi makes £6.99 baby formula announcement as UK prices soar in supermarkets
Parents opting to bottle feed their babies will be around £5 better-off buying Aldi's Mamia powdered formula - as the budget supermarket pledges a price freeze Bosses at Aldi have made a commitment to parents by freezing the price of its own-branded baby formula, an essential for bottle fed infants. Nearly all Brits have been hit financially by the cost of living, which has seen the price of common food shop items soaring in line with inflation. And young families with babies have now been told of a price increase on baby formula, with First Steps Nutrition Trust revealing the most expensive tub on the market is now priced at £18. This is almost three times as much as Aldi's Mamia baby formula. The average cost of a branded baby formula tub is £13.49, with a range between £7.95 to £18. This is despite all brands of powdered baby milk having to contain the correct nutrients for growing babies, meaning there is very little difference between the standard unless otherwise specified. In the UK, according to Unicef, more than half of babies are fed a bottle of formula by one week of age, and three-quarters by six weeks. The First Steps Nutrition Trust shows all brands of formula have increased in price from January 2020, including Aldi's Mamia. But Aptamil Advanced was ranked as the most expensive by April 2023, with the average tub costing £19 for 800g, which could last a formula-fed baby around a week depending on how many bottles they have per day. The trust said: "All infant formula must meet regulations on nutrition composition. When comparing costs to find the least expensive product to feed an infant, it is important to compare the cost of products on the basis of reconstituted formula as pack sizes and the ratio of powder to water required differs between brands." Aldi: 'Shoppers should not be paying over the odds' Aldi has since said it will be keeping the price of its Mamia First Infant Formula for the remainder of 2025, saving shoppers around £5 for buying its own-brand option. Despite other supermarkets stocking the big, more expensive, players such as Kendamil, Aptamil, SMA and Cow & Gate, Aldi is the only one to offer its own branded milk. The likes of Tesco, Morrison's, Asda and Sainsbury's do not have their own exclusive range. Aldi does not confirm when a price hike will be implemented, but has committed to keeping prices the same for the rest of the year. It's not clear how much more a tub will retail at when such an increase is put in place. Julie Ashfield, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, said: 'Shoppers should not be paying over the odds for the essentials. As the UK's cheapest supermarket, we're committed to keeping prices low on the products our customers rely on most.' She continued: 'As formula prices remain at historic highs across the market, we want to reassure parents that Aldi, there will be no unwelcome surprises at the checkout - we're keeping our Mamia First Infant Formula at just £6.99 for at least the remainder of this year.' To support parents all across the country, earlier this year, Aldi also launched a Mamia New Parent Fund, where the supermarket was giving away £100 Aldi vouchers to parents every week for a whole year. This was an initiative to support parents on purchasing essential items after welcoming a new baby. For those interested in learning more about it and applying for The Fund, it can be done by emailing mamiaparentfund@ with a receipt proving they've purchased their latest Mamia nappy product. Full terms and conditions will be found here.
Scottish Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Major supermarket promises to FREEZE formula prices for the rest of the year
Read on to see who it is YOU'RE KIDDING Major supermarket promises to FREEZE formula prices for the rest of the year A MAJOR supermarket has promised to freeze formula prices for the rest of the year. Aldi has pledged to freeze the price of its Mamia First Infant Formula for the remainder of 2025. Advertisement 1 Aldi is cutting the price of its baby formual Credit: Getty Aldi will continue to charge £6.99 for its own label formula. That is around £5 less than the average price of formula elsewhere in 2024. Big name brands like Hipp and Cow & Gate cost around £12 at major retailers such as Boots. The move comes after data from First Steps Nutrition Trust shows that baby formula prices remain close to historic highs, with the most expensive product on the market now priced at £18. Advertisement It was also found that the price of baby milk fell only 50p on average last year, to £11.99, compared to £11.10 in 2021 - four years ago. The trust said new own-brand infant formulas from Aldi and Lidl have been hitting the market with lower price points. However, prices of eight of the 12 available infant formulas in shops were still "high and static" between April 2024 and May 2025. Only the remaining four out of 12 available to customers as of this month are less than £8.50. Advertisement The report said that the infant formula market overall remains "dominated by expensive products". The government is yet to publish a response to the recommendations. Among the measures suggested by the CMA is that the NHS introduce its own non-brand baby formula in a bid to drive prices down. It has also proposed existing baby milk products be provided in non-branded containers in hospitals to reduce the impact branded products can have while parents are in a "vulnerable" setting. Advertisement The CMA has also put forward that packaging should clearly display nutritional information, while any claims that cannot easily be checked by parents are banned. It said this would make it easier for parents to pick between brands. The CMA has made no recommendation on a price cap for baby milk, despite higher prices faced by shoppers in recent years. It comes after the CMA, the regulator, proposed in February several measures which, if confirmed, could save parents buying baby milk around £300 a year. Advertisement Julie Ashfield, chief commercial officer at Aldi UK, said: 'Shoppers should not be paying over the odds for the essentials. As the UK's cheapest supermarket, we're committed to keeping prices low on the products our customers rely on most. 'As formula prices remain at historic highs across the market, we want to reassure parents that at Aldi, there will be no unwelcome surprises at the checkout – we're keeping our Mamia First Infant Formula at just £6.99 for at least the remainder of this year.' All first infant formula must be nutritionally equivalent, but prices can vary due to factors like branding.
