According to consumer magazine Which?, just 7% of foods contain the levels of nutrients stated on the packet, and 17% fall outside the agreed margin of error.
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“Nutrition labels help people compare foods and make healthy choices, but only if they’re accurate,” said Which? editor Malcolm Coles.
Among the worst offenders were Rivington’s Pink Panther wafers which contained nearly three times more saturated fat than stated on the label.
Eating two biscuits would mean unwittingly consuming an extra 3g of saturated fat – nearly a sixth of a woman’s guideline daily amount.
Which? also found that Global Cuisine’s beef joint contained 90% more fat and 70% more saturates than the label said. With 4.8g of fat per 100g, it certainly can’t be described as ‘less than 3% fat’, as the label claims.
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By GlobalDataCadbury’s Light Trifles aren’t as ‘light’ as they say. Which? found 23% more fat in the sample – an extra 1.7g of fat per pot, while Tesco Kids Hot Dog Pizza’s label says ‘controlled sugar’- but Which? found 47% more sugar than claimed.
Responding to the Which? report, a Food and Drink Federation spokesperson said: “Any suggestion that food manufacturers set out to confuse or hoodwink consumers is just not true.”
“Nutrients such as fat and sugars come from a number of ingredients within a product, and their levels will vary for a number of reasons, including the variety of ingredient used or the season in which it was grown. Because of this, the law allows manufacturers to use average figures to give consumers a good indication of what the ‘typical’ nutrient content is for each product.”
“In response to consumer demand, over 80% of UK-produced, pre-packed, manufactured foods voluntarily have nutrition labelling on pack. This is substantially more than in any other EU countries.”
