MSN and Sainsbury's have joined forces to create Sainsbury's Food and Drink on MSN UK, a channel focussed on tasty food ideas and recipes and the first channel of its kind to be hosted on the portal, H&C has hungrily learned. The new partnership, which launches today, will see the supermarket working with MSN to provide exclusive online editorial content about all things food and drink.

The online channel, targeted at mums and household food shoppers, is designed to encourage readers to experiment with recipes and new ingredients, take advantage of in-season, fresh produce, and will draw upon Sainsbury's existing TASTE campaign. The new channel will also feature cookery videos from Sainsbury's, including some featuring the grocer's brand ambassador, TV chef Jamie Oliver.

Visitors to MSN will be directed to Sainsbury's Food and Drink through pages on the portal including MSN Life & Style, Messenger Today, MSN Celebrity, MSN Him and MSN Money. This new partnership between Sainsbury's and MSN is part of a long standing relationship between the two, with MSN having hosted inspirational cookery videos provided by the supermarket since summer 2009.

Peter Bale, Executive Producer of MSN, said of the partnership: "By linking up with such a well known British brand we can bring MSN's readers a new authoritative food and drink channel. Sainsbury's Food and Drink on MSN UK will take the brand to new online audiences, while also providing interesting and compelling content for potential customers by giving fresh ideas on how to use seasonal ingredients."

Sarah Squire, Senior Brand Manager at Sainsbury's, added: "The launch of the food and drinks channel on MSN allows Sainsbury's to engage with a new audience and encourage them to think about new ways to shop for and consume food. The partnership enables us to help customers save money on their weekly shop by buying seasonal food, using up leftovers and cooking easy family meals.