Tricks of the Ferrero company: ZDFzeit reveals the secrets behind children's chocolate and Co.
Alba - According to
Stiftung Warentest
, every fifth German eats Nutella or another nut-nougat cream several times a week.
The nut-nougat cream from Ferrero emerged as the winner.
The family-run company Ferrero makes around eleven billion euros in sales annually.
In a ZDF documentary, food developer Sebastian Lege shows what tricks Ferrero has in store.
The group brought the first chocolate bars onto the market and founded a completely new segment: the nut-nougat cream.
But what is behind this success?
Ferrero buys 200,000 tons of palm oil annually, despite its negative impact on the environment
"Almost all Ferrero products contain palm oil from tropical low-wage countries".
This is reported by the program “ZDFzeit”.
The candy group sources most of its palm oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
Growing in these countries is an inexpensive option for Ferrero.
But for this benefit, rainforests are cut down and the habitat for biodiversity is destroyed, says Greenpeace.
Where previously there were rainforests, huge monocultures now stretch out after clearing.
Ferrero buys around 200,000 tons of palm oil annually from several wholesalers.
According to a Greenpeace report, seven of these companies buy their palm oil from local oil mills, which have made the soil possible for palm oil cultivation through slash and burn.
According to Greenpeace, slash and burn is particularly harmful to the environment.
When asked by ZDF, Ferrero wrote:
"(We have contacted every company) to check that the mills that Ferrero supplies are among the items mentioned in the Greenpeace report: none of them are among them."
Ferrero
The company therefore rules out that its palm oil comes from plantations created by slash and burn.
Greenpeace, on the other hand, is certain that "the palm oil supply chain is not clean."
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Selection of the Ferrero range (archive image)
© IMAGO / Newscast
Ferrero hazelnuts: alleged child labor
Ferrero does not get its hazelnuts from Italy, but from Turkey.
The company is the largest customer with around two thirds of the Turkish hazelnut harvest.
With this market power, Ferrero succeeds in reducing the price to around 230 euros per 100 kilograms.
This means little profit for producers and poor working conditions.
In 2016, according to research by the British newspaper
The Sun, there were
allegations against Ferrero of child labor.
The ZDF asked Ferrero "whether child labor on hazelnut plantations can be safely ruled out." Ferrero could not rule this out with certainty, as the group can only trace 45 percent of the supply chain.
Ferrero recipe criticized: between natural and artificial ingredients
One bar of Yogurette - 0.5 grams of strawberry.
The well-known chocolate bar with strawberry yoghurt flavor does not keep what it promises.
In addition to the small amount of strawberry, according to ZDF there is also only a small amount of yoghurt, or rather yoghurt powder, in the product.
Instead, the candy company relies on special artificial flavors, says Sebastian Lege.
These ensure that Ferrero products always taste the same but still intense.
This saves the company expensive ingredients.
The main ingredients usually stay the same: milk, chocolate, cream and hazelnuts.
Thanks to special shapes, packaging, tastes and stories linked to the products, Ferrero manages to market its products.
Ferreros MonCheri: The Italian Piedmont cherry from Baden-Württemberg
The cherry used in MonCheri production can be 18-21 millimeters in size.
Contrary to the advertising, these cherries do not come from Piedmont, but from Germany (Baden-Württemberg).
Like other Ferrero products, the praline filled with brandy is not available all year round.
With its seasonal sweets, the group creates an artificial shortage and a feeling of exclusivity.
Ferrero's children's chocolate makes you “big and strong”?
Become big and strong - Ferrero children's products promote the ingredient milk, which is associated with positive properties.
Milk contains important trace elements such as calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium.
These trace elements can be found in Ferrero products in even higher amounts than in milk.
This is due to the concentrated milk powder it contains.
This contains more potassium and the like, but also more milk sugar and milk fat.
Chocolate tokens, for example, consist of 90 percent sugar and fat.
List of rubric lists: © IMAGO / Newscast