'Misleading' food manufacturers named and shamed

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* Health and Healing *

Wednesday, April 24, 2002 8:41 PM

'Misleading' food manufacturers named and shamed

 

 

- http://www.ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_574239.html

 

'Misleading' food manufacturers named and shamed

 

The Consumers' Association has named and shamed food manufacturers and called

for them to make more honest claims about their products.

 

After examining dozens of pre-packaged foods, including some supermarket own

label brands, the watchdog has called for more honest and clear labeling.

 

Shoppers are often deliberately confused and misled by labels making dubious

health and nutritional claims.

 

This is because profit-seeking manufacturers pay attention to the " letter but

not the spirit of the law " , said Sheila McKechnie, the Consumers' Association's

director.

 

The EU must impose strong and clearly defined standards and regulations because

many industry practices are voluntary. The increasing number of food-related

diseases makes resolving this problem more urgent, the Consumer Association

argued.

 

Phrases like " farm fresh " , " fat free " and " lite " are often misleading,

researchers found. Ingredients sometimes did not tally with the main product

that was being advertised.

 

Health claims represented nothing more than a " marketing gimmick " and

nutritional information was sometimes absent, the Consumer Association found.

 

Among the offenders were Walkers Lite! crisps. It was advertised as 33% less fat

but still contained 22% fat so could not realistically be described as a low-fat

product.

 

Spam Lite and Spam, made by Tulip International was also scrutinised over its

labelling. Researchers say the Lite version contains 17% fat but manufacturers

claim it had 25% less fat and salt. The normal version had no nutrition

labelling and so was impossible to compare and judge.

 

Safeway Salmon and Shrimp Paste was found to contain 30% mackerel and 15% cod

and water and just 3% shrimp. Safeway's Tuna and Onion Paste contained 20% cod.

Princes Crab Paste contained more mackerel (39%), cod (20%) and water than it

did crab, which made up just 11% of the product.

 

Story filed: 13:07 Wednesday 24th April 2002

 

 

 

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