Not quite what it says on the tin

LABEL WATCHING: Food labels like farm fresh and fat-free are designed to grab our attention and make us feel better about the food we buy - but the claims they make aren't all they seem, writes PAUL CULLEN

LABELS ALLOW food manufacturers to market their products on crowded supermarket shelves, but for consumers they are the means by which we receive essential information about the foods we buy.

Yet faced with a blizzard of information, in words and pictures, many of us just plump for our favourites or the nearest product to hand, as we push our trolleys up and down the aisles. More than one-quarter of consumers say they never read the labels on the foods they purchase regularly, and less than 10 per cent say they pay close attention to the claims being made on packaging.

Over the years, the food industry has become adept at producing labels that grab consumers’ attention with claims that, while not untrue, sometimes do not tell the full story.

THIS MEANS NOTHING TO ME

Many of the terms used on food packaging to evoke warm, sympathetic responses from consumers have no legal meaning. Descriptions such as “country style”, “traditional” and “farm-fresh” are used by manufacturers to envelop their product in the warm glow of positive imagery without holding them to any legal obligations.

The bigger the manufacturer, the more likely they are to claim their product is homemade or to throw in a reference to a farmers’ market with all that suggests. Soup is often creamy, yoghurt natural and vegetables home-style, while tradition abounds on supermarket aisles.

In breads, wholegrain is another largely meaningless term. Many products market themselves by describing how they are made with whole grains, and use dark brown colours or deceptive names to show the product is associated with the health benefits of whole grains.

Sadly, many of these items have ordinary refined wheat flour as their main ingredient. One Irish survey found over half the wholegrain breads examined contained more white flour than wholemeal flour.

If you are looking for a healthier option when shopping for bread, look for wholemeal products, which must contain wholemeal flour.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS, OR IS IT?

We all want to help our own, especially in these troubled times. And what better way than by throwing Irish produce into the trolley during our weekly shopping trips? Buying anything with the word Irish in the title, or anything in the Irish language, might seem a good start. Old Time Irish Marmalade, for example, or Siúcre sugar.

We might also go for products our parents used to buy when we were children, and that were unquestionably Irish at the time, such as Jacob’s Cream Crackers or Fig Rolls.

Yet none of these items is made in Ireland anymore. Old Time Irish Marmalade labels list the address of Jacob Fruitfield in Tallaght but it is made in the UK and Portugal. The makers say the recipe is Irish but since it’s a secret, that’s not something we can verify.

Siúcre has been imported from Germany since the Irish sugar beet plants closed and the manufacture of Jacob’s Cream Crackers and Fig Rolls have also moved overseas.

JUST DON’T MENTION THE ENVIRONMENT

Supermarket shelves are weighed down with products proclaiming their organic credentials but environmentally-minded consumers should ask whether a hidden trade-off is involved. For example, is it really a benefit to the planet to send an organic ingredient halfway across the world rather than sourcing the non-organic equivalent locally? Other products make claims, such as being CFC-free that, while true, are no longer a live issue.

SIMPLY INDIGESTIBLE

Should we be surprised that the food industry produces so much indigestible information on its packaging? It’s true that companies have legal obligations to provide certain information about ingredients and nutrient content, and they also need to use packaging to attract potential buyers.

Yet so many backs of packets are a welter of complex information and tiny writing, often in multiple languages. Salt, for example, is often listed as sodium. The nutritional information is difficult for a lay person to interpret, which is why health campaigners would like to see broad indications of how healthy an item is on the front of packaging. Their way of achieving this is a traffic light system in which fat, salt, sugar and calorie content would be shaded red, orange or green according to the level. Some food companies and retailers are prepared to accept such a system but the majority of both industries is opposed.

CHECK OUT THE SECRET INGREDIENTS

Manufacturers are generally required to list the ingredients in their products on the label, but sometimes that doesn’t give the consumer all the information. Trans fatty acids, for example, which are banned in some countries, are still in foods here but don’t appear on the label. The use of processing aids in the manufacture of breads can go undeclared, while drinks manufacturers are required to show the alcohol strength of their products but are not required to show nutritional information.

CHICKENING OUT

While strict rules apply to the labelling of beef, the same cannot be said for chicken. Virtually all the chicken used in the Irish catering trade is imported but consumers are largely unaware of this fact. Your average chicken sandwich may have started life in Thailand before the meat was transported to Europe where it was pumped with chemicals and then sent on to Ireland for processing.

Confusion also exists about the meaning of free range chicken and eggs. Few of the birds so labelled are actually free to run around in the open; under EU regulations, each bird must have a minimum of four square metres of space.

LOOK AT THIS (BUT NOT AT THAT!)

Manufacturers like to boast about the positive features of their products while conveniently ignoring the negatives. A product might be advertised as low in fat but is it also low in salt or sugar? Breakfast cereals like to highlight the fact that they are high in fibre yet many products are also high in sugar and salt.

Another technique that can be misleading is to label an item x per cent fat free, which can actually mean the product is high in fat.

Descriptions such as lower in fat may be based on comparisons with other items in a range of products rather than a standalone indication of the fat content. Another promotional technique is to make low or fat-free claims for foods that are always low in the nutrient as in the case of fat-free broccoli.

IT AIN’T WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S THE WAY THAT YOU SAY IT

The term Irish sliced ham is used to describe ham from outside Ireland that has been sliced in Ireland; sliced Irish ham is Irish ham that has been sliced.

Similarly, smoked Irish fish is from this country, while Irish smoked fish may have been imported and then processed here.

SOMETHING FISHY HERE?

Scientists from University College Dublin recently carried out genetic testing on fish products sold in Irish shops and chip shops and came out with some alarming results.

One-quarter of the fish products they examined, which were labelled as cod and haddock, turned out to be an entirely different species of fish. When only smoked fish products were examined, the scientists found that 82 per cent were mislabelled.

The most popular fish on the Irish market, salmon, has also been the focus of controversy. Last year, the Dublin District Court dismissed charges against Wrights of Howth, Galway, Ltd that it misleadingly labelled as wild packets of salmon for sale.

The judge said she was satisfied the company had offered for sale Irish smoked wild salmon at Dublin airport which contained salmon that had been bred and raised in cages to the point of harvesting and had been owned by someone. However, she said she had insufficient evidence that the salmon was farmed.