The Advertising Standards Authority has rejected Zoe’s appeal regarding its use of ultra-processed foods.
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld its May 2025 ruling concerning nutrition startup Zoe’s Daily30+ supplement, following an appeal from the brand.
The initial ruling banned a Facebook ad from Zoe after it found the brand’s claim that its Daily30+ supplement was free from ultra-processed (UPF) ingredients was likely to “mislead” consumers.
The ad, posted in September 2024, promoted the “wholefood supplement” with an endorsement from entrepreneur Steven Bartlett that read: “This is a supplement revolution. No ultra-processed pills, no shakes, just real food.”
Zoe’s cofounder Professor Tim Spector says he is “stunned” by the ASA’s decision to uphold the initial ruling, citing an independent reviewer who found “substantial flaws” in the watchdog’s original reasoning.
The ASA notes that while the ingredients – chicory root inulin and nutritional yeast flakes – were included because of their nutritional benefits and were not “unhealthy”, their benefits did “not alter the impression created by the ad” that they were not UPFs.
“Implicit in the ASA’s ruling is that two healthy, widely-used plant-based ingredients are ultra-processed because they are ‘more than minimally processed’. This is a profound failure of logic that flies in the face of established nutritional science and expert opinion,” says Spector.
“To suggest that advertising a scientifically proven supplement made of whole-food ingredients is ‘misleading’ is a victory for pedantry over public health.”
Spector’s statement in full
“We are stunned by the ASA’s decision to uphold its original ruling that an advertisement of Daily30 was misleading. Implicit in the ASA’s ruling is that two healthy, widely-used plant-based ingredients are ultra-processed because they are ‘more than minimally processed.’ This is a profound failure of logic that flies in the face of established nutritional science and expert opinion. To suggest that advertising a scientifically proven supplement made of whole-food ingredients is ‘misleading’ is a victory for pedantry over public health.
“The new ruling is particularly irrational and worrying as it ignores the ‘substantial flaws’ in the original ruling, identified by the ASA’s Independent Reviewer. It is patronising for the ASA to claim UK consumers cannot tell the difference between health-promoting processed plants and obviously unhealthy industrially processed junk food.
“The ASA has effectively ruled that healthy, fibre-rich ingredients like chicory root inulin and nutritional yeast should be viewed through the same lens as highly processed foods like children’s cereals or snacks simply because they are professionally prepared. This is an absurd, unscientific standard; by this logic, everyday staples like olive oil and flour should also be branded as ‘ultra-processed.’
“The ASA previously admitted Daily30 does not meet the widely accepted ‘NOVA’ definition of an ultra-processed food. The health benefits of Daily30 are proven by a randomised controlled trial. At a time when the UK diet is dominated by harmful junk food, targeting a product that supports health is a disgraceful misuse of regulatory power. This decision fuels consumer confusion and protects the status quo of the junk food industry, who also fund the ASA.
“At Zoe, we remain deeply committed to empowering people to make healthy nutritional choices based on the latest, rigorous science, and not arbitrary regulatory definitions that undermine public intelligence and trust. The science clearly backs Daily30, and we stand by our 34 whole-food ingredients list and the benefits that it clearly brings into people’s lives.”
