12 May FOOD LABELLING – ARE WE BEING MISLED?
FOOD LABELLING – ARE WE BEING MISLED?
According to IGD, The UK food industry brings in about £179.1BN every year. Food and drink manufacturing is worth £66bn and food manufacturing, accounts for 19% of the UKs manufacturing.
With huge food scandals opening consumer’s eyes about what they are really purchasing, it also shows us the fact that we do have limited and unclear food labels that many people may find confusing.Are supermarkets not giving customers the right and enough information about their ingredients as a way to sell better or is it that food-labeling laws are not good enough? 
The horsemeat scandal in 2013 set of alarm bells for everyone. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland tested a range of cheap frozen beefburgers and ready meals from supermarkets in November 2012 for the presence of DNA from other species, which were undeclared. According to the Guardian, It found horse DNA in over one-third of the beef burger samples, and pig in 85% of them. Because the findings were so serious and likely to do huge damage to commercial interests, the FSAI then spent two months retesting before announcing its findings on 15 January.
Supermarket buyers and big brands have been cutting down prices whether it being special offers or just a cheaper price to help drive sales due to the lack of wanting to spend huge amounts of money since the recession. The guardian says that the cut down on prices has come at a time when manufacturers’ costs have been soaring due to a lack of animals and maybe in the future, also due to Brexit. There has been a mismatch between the cost of real beef and what companies and consumers are prepared to pay. And to meet the customer’s needs, what are supermarkets willing do to and what are customers willing to eat?
As a consumer, it is important to know what exactly is in your food and with shows like food uncovered showing the dark side of food I wanted to know why cheap meat is so cheap and if it really is meat, also if the labelling is set out in a way that could be misunderstood and confusing. And if it was, is it easy and accessible for us to find out what is in our meat? I went to a few local supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsbury.
The Gov. website shows the food labeling regulations on their page called Food labeling and packaging. To sell food and drink products, the label must be:
- Clear and easy to read
- Permanent
- Easy to understand
- Easily visible
- Not misleading
You must show certain basic information and list the ingredients. You might also have to show certain warnings.
You must show the following information on the front of packaged food:
- The name of the food
- A ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ date (or instructions on where to find it)
- Any necessary warnings
- Quantity information
You must also show the following information – it can be on the front, side or back of the packaging:
- A list of ingredients (if there are more than 2)
- The name and address of the manufacturer, packer or seller
- The lot number (or use-by date if you wish)
- Any special storage conditions
- Instructions for use or cooking, if necessary.
Quantity information – You must put the net quantity in grams, kilograms, millilitres or litres on the label of:
- Packaged food over 5g or 5ml
- Packaged herbs and spices
Country of origin
The label for beef, veal, fish and shellfish, honey, olive oil, wine, most fruit and vegetables and poultry imported from outside the EU must show the country of origin.
I wanted to investigate food labeling in supermarkets and if they are clear or potentially misleading by becoming consumer myself. This was easy because that’s something I already am however never with meat. I wanted to go on a day where I was actually buying groceries so I could achieve the whole experience and thought process of a meat buyer. I wanted to make sure that I was observing the right things so I followed the government’s regulations as a guideline. I wanted to make sure that the labels were:
Clear and easy to understand
1. Easily visible
2.Not misleading
And had
1. A list of ingredients (if there are more than
2. Country of origin
Tesco has its own branded meat, and especially after Tesco was included in the supermarkets whose meat was tested positive for traces of horsemeat, it is important that Tesco takes extra care in the labeling of food to regain trust. Tesco Ready To Eat Bbq Chicken Breast Pieces 180G, priced at £2.00 stated that it was Produced in: The U.K., however, it was also labeled that it was using chicken from The U.K. the EU-South America. This could be very confusing for a shopper who can easily mistake the chicken being from the UK only as it says produced. People can assume that production of this product can mean all the way from the chicken being from the UK all the way to the packaging. Confusion may also arise with three places that the chicken was from. The UK, The EU, and South America.
To further see if anyone would be able to provide information, I asked a sales assistant to tell me what it meant to be produced and the difference, she didn’t know. Then asking for a manager who also proceeds to tell me that she wasn’t sure and I should call the Tesco helplines and ask them, as they would know more in depth about Tesco branded products. I asked the manager if she could quickly call up and ask for me but she refused and told me that I would be better off phoning them directly as I could explain to them exactly what I wanted. I found it odd that the manager was quite reluctant and didn’t have knowledge of Tesco’s own branded food. Customer service was also struggling to know exactly what the label was saying, they finally told me that it was produced in the UK meaning it was flavored and packaged in the UK but the chicken was from either the UK, EU or South America. Still confused, I asked if the chicken collectively was from these three places and put together in one product or if every product individually had different places of origin of their chicken and again they didn’t know and said that they assume it was collective. It was very difficult to get one piece of set information, as the labeling was very unclear.
Tahira chicken frankfurters are £1.00 from Tesco’s and £1.10 from Sainsbury’s; both supermarkets state that with any questions about non-own brand products, to call the brand. These frankfurters had mechanically Deboned Chicken Meat (74%) In them and I was unsure about the part of meat that they used and what deboned meant. I spoke to a manager, and asked him what part of chicken they used, automatically he responded by saying “Don’t worry we don’t use anything that we shouldn’t use like toes or beak, it’s the bones of the breast or legs that we put together that are used”. After the call I had realised that he said bones instead of meat so I was still confused. Again it may not be necessarily misleading but it could have been clearer.
Sainsbury wafer thin cooked chicken priced at £0.50 from Sainsbury. The ingredients state that it is reformed chicken, cooked with less than 15% added water and starch. Not knowing what reformed chicken or meat was, I decided to give customer helpline a call. Again I had the same problem with them unsure of what it meant themselves, and the man was googling what reformed chicken meant. He said that Reformed chicken contains chicken, water, pea starch, salt; breadcrumb coating contains breadcrumbs, wheat flour, vegetable oil and water. The ingredients of the actual product said it had reformed chicken with added water so because I was unsure what this meant, I then went on to ask if the added water was the water from the reformed chicken or if it was added water after the existing water in the reformed chicken. The man was unsure and said that it was probably added water on top of the existing water.
With all the talk about the percentages of meat and water etc. it made me think about what percentage of meat needs to be in a product for it to be classified as a meat product. I looked specifically at Richmond 8 Thick Pork Sausages. The ingredients show that the amount of pork used is only 42%, its absurd that less than half of meat is used and it can still be called a pork sausage. I contacted Food standards agency to find out information however they told me to contact my local council-trading agency, as ingredients didn’t have anything to do with them. After a few failed attempts are getting into contact, I was finally greeted with an automated voicemail telling me that they were out of office.
Consumers should never be misled and in this case, it wasn’t one of being misled but of being unclear. Consumers increasingly demand more information about their food and you have a right to know where your meat comes from and what part is used. They shouldn’t have to phone up numerous customer help lines to find out something that should have been that little bit clearer on the labels and worth that being said it is time for the governed to step up and set clearer regulations for food labeling.
