Asda withdraws ready meals range after disagreement with Slimming World

The Slimzone ready meals, launched in January, included ingredients which were classed as "free" under the Slimming World diet plan.

But today a spokesman for the supermarket said it was removing 12 meals from shelves because of the method used by the weight loss organisation to assess if ready meals are "free" or not.

The 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.

"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 meal packs included a statement informing customers that the range was not endorsed by Slimming World.

Supermarket Iceland sells a range of ready meals which is endorsed by the diet plan.