In your nearest Auchan store, you will find two very similar sauces: the same rectangular boxes and the same swirl of raw vegetables printed around the words: “mayonnaise”. Except that one is "light" and the other is not. We would think it more dietetic if the Auchan private label had not had the honesty to display in both cases, the Nutri-Score, this rating which assesses the nutritional quality of products. And there, surprise: the two mayonnaises are as bad as the other for the health. Their rating, on a scale from A to E? "D". "In fact, you have to look at the little asterisk next to the word" light "," decrypts Camille Dorioz, campaigner for the NGO Foodwatch, who has just investigated this scam with light mayonnaise. This asterisk returns, on the side of the package,to the phrase "low in fat". “We will have to look at the table of nutritional values to discover that, of course, the low-fat recipe contains less material than its ordinary equivalent, but on the other hand it contains much more salt and sugar. "
Water, the first ingredient in the diet
The number of calories is much lower in the light version than in the classic version: 1,075 against 2,720. But there are also 3.1 g of salt (88% more) and 5.2 g (333%). more) of sugar against 1.7 g of salt and 1.5 g of sugar in the regular sauce. "It is a general health problem for the population," comments Camille Dorioz. Today we consume too many sugars, especially free sugars added to food. The WHO advises 50 g of free sugars per day. If we end up with sugar in the mayo, we are really not going to get out of it so as not to exceed this limit. Salt also poses cardiovascular problems. The alert is not confined to Auchan products:Foodwatch has observed an increase in the salt and sugar levels in a dozen low-fat mayonnaises compared to their ordinary equivalents! As proof, the "light" Monoprix tube is 250% sweeter and 12.5% saltier than its ordinary neighbor. In Carrefour private label products, this is 200% more sugar and 13% more salt.
“Me, what I see are products where you remove mustard, remove egg and remove oil, the basic ingredients of my mayonnaise at home, continues Camille Dorioz. And we fill this gap with sugar, salt and water. "Because water is the main ingredient in these" light "recipes. To verify this, Céline Jouquant, teacher-researcher in food biochemistry at the UniLaSalle engineering school, was asked to reproduce the Auchan light mayonnaise. "The water helps lighten the mayonnaise," she comments, noting that the ingredient is listed on the packaging. There are many. At least 50%. And after, we will find a list of additives that give the mayonnaise a little body. Among them, xanthan and modified starch are sprinkled in water.Add sugar, vinegar, mix, wait 45 minutes and you obtain a whitish molasses whose texture already almost resembles that of mayo. Yet no classic mayonnaise ingredient, except vinegar, has yet been used. The scientist adds mustard, egg yolk, mixes the preparation with oil and here, with a few preservatives, flavors and colorings ready, a light mayonnaise!a light mayonnaise!a light mayonnaise!
In raw materials, light mayo is 66% cheaper
And Camille Dorioz continues: “When you buy this, you are still buying water.
I still find it difficult to understand how it can be sold for more.
Indeed, the selling price of these low-fat products is generally higher than that of ordinary products.
We contacted about ten brands to find out if the cost of production higher for ordinary mayonnaise.
None wanted to answer.
We therefore asked a small collusive manufacturer to estimate the raw material costs of the two Auchan mayonnaises.
His answer is edifying.
Lightweight sold 22% more expensive than ordinary would cost, in raw material, 66% less: or 0.116 € for 175 g of reduced fat, against 0.19 € for the same volume of ordinary mayonnaise ...
But in terms of taste, is this light mayonnaise an illusion? To do this, we blind-tasted two pairs of mayonnaise - Carrefour and Auchan, lightened and not - to the chef Angélique Ferreux-Maeght, at the head of the restaurants and the caterer La Guinguette d'Angèle. “There is a not very pleasant length in the mouth,” she says, blindfolded, of the regular Carrefour mayo. “Always the same length in the mouth, really not good,” she continues of the classic Auchan. "I think there is sugar and salt in it," she notes finely after tasting Carrefour's light mayonnaise. But our taster will prove to be less perceptive by testing the last container, filled with low-fat Auchan mayonnaise: "This one is fatter in any case". In the ranking,Angela's taste buds show a preference for the Carrefour brand but not specifically for classic mayonnaises. The regular Carrefour, at 3.90 € / kg, comes in first position, followed by the lighter at 3.93 € / kg. Auchan occupies the last places with its ordinary mayonnaise at 3.37 € / kg followed by the lighter at 3.83 € / kg. "In fact, these mayonnaises are really not crazy," comments the chef who had however announced, before our visit and to our surprise, to be a fan of industrial mayonnaise. “Making mayonnaise at home is super easy. And in addition, we do not add sugar when we make it ourselves! "Auchan occupies the last places with its ordinary mayonnaise at 3.37 € / kg followed by the lighter at 3.83 € / kg. "In fact, these mayonnaises are really not crazy," comments the chef who had however announced, before our visit and to our surprise, to be a fan of industrial mayonnaise. “Making mayonnaise at home is super easy. And in addition, we do not add sugar when we make it ourselves! "Auchan occupies the last places with its ordinary mayonnaise at 3.37 € / kg followed by the lighter at 3.83 € / kg. "In fact, these mayonnaises are really not crazy," comments the chef who had however announced, before our visit and to our surprise, to be a fan of industrial mayonnaise. “Making mayonnaise at home is super easy. And in addition, we do not add sugar when we make it ourselves! "
