How supermarkets including Morrisons, Tesco and Asda are ‘misleading shoppers with questionable labels’
They have been accused of using cheaper inferior ingredients but labelling the products differently
SHOPPERS are being tricked by misleading claims on packs of food they buy at supermarkets, experts claim.
The big four have been accused of using cheaper inferior ingredients but labelling the products differently.
Examples include a duck and orange pate where the main ingredient is actually pork fat and frozen salmon which is 40 grams of ice.
While substitution is not illegal Richard Evershed, a professor of biogeochemistry at the University of Bristol, said the practice is unethical.
Speaking to the he said the problem ranges from misleading labels to serious food fraud – where products can be diluted with potentially lethal ingredients.
Prof Evershed – who has written a book about some of the century’s biggest food scams - said: “As our urban lifestyle takes us further and further away from our food sources, there are increasing opportunities for dishonesty, duplicity and profit-making short cuts.
“Whether it’s a matter of making a good quality oil stretch a bit further by adding a little extra something or labelling a food falsely to appeal to current consumer trends, it’s all food fraud and it costs the food industry billions.
“The price to consumers may be even higher, with some paying for these crimes with their health and, in some cases, their lives.”
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One example is Morrisons ‘classic houmous’ which in its traditional form is a puree of chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, garlic and salt.
But the supermarket version is instead made with cheaper rapeseed oil, containing just a drizzle of olive oil or none at all.
Prof Evershed added: “This is not illegal, but I think it raises some important ethical issues.”
Another problem arises with supermarket pates.
Both Tesco's and Sainbury’s duck and orange pate are made primarily with pork fat.
The name of product – and in Tesco’s case, the image on the packaging – is at odds with its main ingredient.
But it is not just sandwich spreads which have come under fire.
Asda’s cook from frozen salmon fillet is made up of 40 grams of ice.
As well as water, fresh chicken can be pumped full of a chemical cocktail including collagen powder.
The meat is injected with a combination of the added ingredients, or tumbled in vast machines to plump it up.
The labels are perfectly legal provided the real ingredients are somewhere on the pack.
But food fraud can have dangerous consequences and could be particularly troublesome for people with allergies.
Last month an Indian takeaway owner was found guilty of killing a customer with a severe nut allergy after he ate a curry containing peanuts.
A jury heard he swapped almond powder in recipes for cheaper groundnut mix containing peanuts.
A report earlier this year showed that almost half of 100 food samples collected by north Wales authorities and sent for testing showed claims made on their labels were false.
Morrisons, Tesco, Sainbury’s and Asda have all been contacted for comment.
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