Mr Quality wanted 'lower spec' meals

JUSTIN King, the new boss of Sainsbury lured from Marks & Spencer because of his commitment to high standards, was looking at ways for M&S to downgrade the quality of its hugely lucrative ready meals.

As head of food operations, King brought in consultants to explore a range of options to make more money out of the High Street giant's TV dinners, according to sources.

King, 42, joined M&S from Asda three years ago and has presided over healthy growth in the food division, where his main contribution was the rapid expansion of the Simply Food convenience stores.

But over the summer, King initiated extensive research of the market using outside experts.

One of the conclusions was that M&S was guilty of 'overspecing' the ingredients in its microwave and ready-to-eat meals and could afford to use cheaper alternatives with little impact on the consumer.

The industry jargon for such a practice is 'value-engineering'. King's report is said to have met resistance from the board, led by chief executive Roger Holmes. But it is understood that directors backed a plan asking some suppliers to produce alternative ranges using cheaper ingredients - initially for internal taste tests.

There is no evidence the value engineered ranges have been sold in M&S stores - a move that would almost certainly cause an outcry among its loyal customers.

But the disclosure comes at an embarrassing time for King, who is joining Sainsbury on a salary of £675,000 - considerably more than his £300,000 at M&S - and who was lauded by Sainsbury's outgoing chief executive Sir Peter Davis only days ago for his strong commitment to quality.

Davis, who will move up to the chairman's role when King joins in March, made much of his new recruit's experience when the appointment was announced last Thursday.

With little good news to report --and interim results underlining Sainsbury's continued poor performance - Davis explained that King was essential to the chain's new dual-track approach of improvements in quality and cuts in prices.

He said last week: 'Justin has a proven track record at the value end of the market with Asda and at the quality end with Marks & Spencer.'

A spokesman for Marks & Spencer denied there were any plans to change any of the ingredients in its meals.