Lumpfish eggs with additives, packaging of minced salmon filled with emptiness… With less than three weeks to Christmas, the NGO Foodwatch pinpoints ten star products for the end-of-year celebrations in its new study, published on Tuesday.
Its “
Christmas table of scams
” highlights certain products “
sold as chic
”, but which “
can reveal scams on the label: dishonest packaging, which misleads consumers
”.
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The NGO, accustomed to these Christmas "prizes", points in particular to the packaging of holiday products filled with unnecessary emptiness.
Like this Nestlé chocolate yule log.
“
Its imposing packaging conceals the actual quantity of product, which is much less: the log is three-quarters empty!
“, points out Foodwatch, in addition “
synonymous with more waste
”.
Ditto for the Milka-Oréo chocolate snowballs, “
three-quarters
” empty, because of the large amount of plastic that surrounds them, or even sliced Auchan smoked salmon, “
55%
” empty.
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In the same vein, Foodwatch points to the more imposing plastic packaging of Lindt's Pyrenean chocolates, intended to conceal the reduction in the quantity of products inside.
A strategy well known to industrialists, called “shrinkflation”, which the NGO qualifies as “
masked inflation
”.
“
For 20% less chocolate, you will pay 18% more per kilo at Carrefour!
observes Foodwatch.
Misleading Mentions and Additives
The NGO also warns against misleading information on packaging, such as on the Maître CoQ morel roast.
While morels, a chic product, are displayed with great fanfare on the packaging, the roast "
in reality contains very little (0.9%)
", notes Foodwatch.
In the festive section at Carrefour, the organization also noticed the presence of a small jar of Guérande salt from the Larnaudie brand, "
at 120€ per kilo
", i.e. up to six times more expensive than similar products. placed in their usual departments.
Finally, Foodwatch calls for attention to the composition of the flagship products of Christmas meals.
For example, Carrefour Extra lumpfish roe, which “
consists of no less than five additives
”, Labeyrie macaroons with foie gras containing sodium nitrite, or small puff pastries in the shape of a Blini fir tree with palm oil.
The NGO notes that "
the agri-food industry regularly uses marketing (...) to highlight its products and hide the presence of controversial health additives
", the same "
to hide the presence of palm oil
".