In recent years, many countries have begun to crack down on the use of vague food marketing terms, such as ‘Fresh’ and ‘Natural’, issuing guidelines on how such jargon should be used. Yet some marketing terms, such as ‘Luxury’ and ‘Premium’, are not governed by the regulations and are therefore used freely and frequently, despite confusion as to their precise meaning, as Hugh Westbrook found out.
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It is easy to dismiss the above as a meaningless statement. Yet consumers often have to wade through similar language on their food products, as manufacturers look to differentiate their offerings from one another by the way they are described. Physical packaging is one method of making an item stand out on a shelf – the way it is described is another.
just-food.com has found that guidelines governing the use of many products are being observed by food manufacturers. However, there are some terms that have not been looked at and which are still too vague.
Stringent rules governing food labelling are common everywhere. Yet more often than not, these terms refer to ingredients lists and information panels which are typically found on the side or the back of packaging. For the shopper with little time, the front packaging may be all that they refer to. And this is where the marketing terms come in.
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By GlobalDataProtecting the consumer
The UK’s Food Standards Agency has addressed this issue by issuing guidelines on the use of certain terms, namely: ‘fresh’, ‘natural’, ‘pure’, ‘traditional’, ‘original’, ‘authentic’ and ‘home-made’. It conducted research, published in July 2002, based on consumer concerns over the use of these terms.
While generally concluding that existing labelling regulations were sufficient to protect customers from being misled, a report added that the FSA felt: “That these terms were being misused in some cases, and that there was clear room for improvement. It felt that use had in some cases become far removed from generally accepted meanings and had the potential to mislead consumers.”
The FSA goes on to give detailed advice on how to use the specific labels, though it makes clear that this is advice and not binding law. However, all food companies have a duty by law not to be misleading on their labelling. The FSA is currently investigating the uptake of its recommendations.
The FSA’s recommendations have found favour in other English-speaking markets. The Australian Consumers’ Association told just-food.com that it had written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to try and regulate terms such as ‘natural’, ‘pure’, homestyle’ and ‘homemade’. It said that the FSA’s recommendations had formed part of the background for their approach.
In America, there are detailed labelling regulations from the Food Standards Agency governing the use of terms such as ‘low’, ‘reduced’, light’ and ‘fresh’.
The mystery of ‘luxury’ and ‘premium’
These are not the only terms that occur relatively frequently, especially in the UK. just-food.com was particularly interested in the terms ‘luxury’ and ‘premium’, which are used on many products. There is no regulation, or indeed guidelines, on these terms anywhere, and it is hard to know exactly how they are used.
Brief checking of ingredients lists reveals some clues. ‘Premium’ is the top of the heap, the best version of a product. ‘Luxury’ is simply a nicer version and carries an element of indulgence with it, hence the ubiquitous nature of ‘Luxury Belgian chocolate’.
The FSA told just-food.com that these terms had not been investigated. A spokeswoman said: “There have been no complaints in terms of luxury and premium, consumers have a fairly set idea of what they mean.
“However, we are carrying out work to check on the uptake of the other terms and it is quite possible we might look at other terms – if we feel there is confusion then we may look at that. We will continue to monitor the use of terms so if others come up we will look at them.”
Asda reviews labelling
There is a case to suggest that the terms ‘luxury’ and ‘premium’ need further investigation. Asda certainly seems to think so. The company is currently undertaking a review of its product labelling in a bid to give clearer information.
A spokeswoman told just-food.com: “As our product titles are being reviewed words such as ‘luxury’, ‘premium’ or ‘traditional’ will no longer be used. These words are not always helpful to our customers as they are open to personal interpretation.
“Clear labelling is extremely important to Asda as it makes shopping easier for our customers and leaves the customer to make their own mind up about whether a product is premium, luxury or traditional.”
Guidelines may be needed
This is not always the case. just-food.com did some research to try and understand the difference between Sainsbury’s Original Muesli, Sainsbury’s Luxury Fruit and Nut Muesli, and Sainsbury’s Premium Fruit And Nut Muesli.
This was based purely on reading ingredients lists and not consuming the products. This is important as there has to be some objective way of differentiating products which are graded in both description and price – taste buds alone cannot do this job.
Original Muesli covers a wide variety, and these typically have at least 60% cereal and varying degrees of fruit. The Luxury Muesli has 60% cereal and 40% fruit, nuts and seeds. The Premium brand is a 50-50 split. So the criteria for differentiating them would seem to be the inclusion of increasing amounts of fruit and nuts.
just-food.com therefore asked Sainsbury’s how luxury and premium products are differentiated. A spokeswoman said: “Sainsbury’s only use the terms ‘Luxury’ and ‘Premium’ where they can be fully justified. We have strict criteria for applying the terms.”
just-food.com asked what the criteria are. Sainsbury’s would not tell us. We suggested to them that this was unhelpful and wondered how consumers were supposed to know the difference between the products as they had no way of knowing how the terms were being used. What aspects of the product’s production do they reflect and how are they differentiated, we asked. We received no reply.
The use of the terms ‘Luxury’ and ‘Premium’ may not be a problem. The FSA has said they have not been investigated because they seem well understood. But Asda’s decision to remove them suggests that they are not helpful terms, and the fact that their addition to packaging automatically generates a price hike suggests that this may be one area which will need guidelines in the future.
