Do We Know What’s in Our Food
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The other night on BBC 1 I happened to catch, the back end of a programme which was about food and the content in it. I only managed to see the last five minutes of it, but luckily due to the fact that now we have BBC iplayer, I was able to watch it in its entirety.
I must say some of the things that were discussed, were quite eye opening to say the least. So this is what this particular post is about and it is based on what was talked about in the programme.
How We Buy Food
One of the first things that was mentioned in this programme, was how we are conditioned to buy food. Manufacturers know that they have to push our emotional triggers so we buy their particular product, so one of the researchers was walking round a supermarket. With a pair of glasses which was linked to a camera which had a cross hair on it, so you can actually see what the person is looking at.
This is then linked to a laptop computer, so the information can be used to see how exactly we as people tend to shop. One of the people involved with the gadget said that we tend to live in a one second world.
So if a manufacturer of a particular food product wants to grab our attention, then they haven’t got very long at all in order to do that, especially in today’s ultra-competitive world of food products.
The packaging is the most important thing as regards, what influences us to buy a particular food product if we are looking for something to buy, and it doesn’t captivate our imagination within one second then it’s game over. That is why the packaging is made to be as attractive as is possibly can. It has to invoke trust, and quality so that it triggers the emotional buying response.
As a rule I probably dare say that a lot of us don’t even realise this is happening to us on a day-to-day basis. As we go food shopping we are constantly being influenced by pictures and by names, which ultimately decides which food product we decide to buy.
Brand Names Do They Mean Anything
Brand names are everywhere these days, and food is no exception one of the brand names which was mentioned was Marks & Spencer’s, own particular brand of fish which was using a name of Loch Muir, the researchers decided to go to Scotland to see if there was such a place, and there wasn’t it was merely a fictitious name which was used on the packaging.
Even though the salmon did come from Scotland there is no such place as Loch Muir, when some people were shown this particular product, and asked where they thought it came from they said Scotland .
But when they were told there was no such place they seemed overall very disappointed, because they felt they were being misled by what was put on the labelling, all these types of marketing methods all play with our imagination, it’s almost as if we can see the fish in a Scottish loch somewhere. I suppose you could say it gives it that feeling of natural surroundings, and countryside. Other names which were mentioned were Tesco’s Willow Farm Chicken, Marks & Spencer’s Oakham Chicken and Strathvale Mince.
These names all sound great and give you a image of coming from somewhere in particular, when in fact all you’re getting is a name. But it sounds better than just using Tesco’s Chicken, that on its own doesn’t quite have the same impact, as using the Willow Farm name I’m sure you will agree.
The Purpose of Branding
The reasons we have branding as far as food is concerned, is it builds up a relationship. Of trust, quality and makes us more confident in what we buy. A lot of branding is used by using a certain persona or name say for instance Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Puddings.
And on the packaging you have a picture of a oldish lady which can you can relate to who may look like a aunt that you may have. This is how branding works.
How Much Fat Does it Contain
There are lots of meat product’s for example things like meatballs, that are sold with supposedly low levels of fat so we look for these particular products. If we are trying to lower our overall fat intake but the problem is how accurate is the percentage, of fat that is contained within a product.
For a consumer this can be very hard to judge one particular food retailer, namely Lidl were prosecuted for having high levels of fat in their products, than what was suggested on the packaging of said product.
When Is a Chicken Not a Chicken
This isn’t a trick question but something that is very real, in order to bulk the size of chickens up food manufacturers, add protein powder which has a combination of, water, beef and pork. So you end up with something which is more like a franken chicken rather than a chicken.
The reason that pork and beef is used is it helps to make the Chicken look bigger than it actually is so naturally consumer thinks. They are getting better value for money but are they really.
This information came from a panorama programme which was made quite a few years back now, two people were actually interviewed on it whilst under surveillance. And they were quoted as saying.
That they could actually strip the DNA from the pork and beef, and so if it was tested then there would be no traces of it. Somehow they managed to cloak the DNA of the pork and beef so it was undetectable. So it begs the question are we actually buying a chicken or some sort of mutated chicken
The great British Tradition Fish and Chips
Surely fish and chip shops, wouldn’t embark on such tactics or would they, one fish and chip shop was found to be selling fish which was displayed as COD , but upon on inspection it was found they were selling, a cheaper fish. More than likely to create more profits, from selling a cheaper fish than was displayed.
Designer Ham
In the Netherlands a food manufacturer, was labeling his ham with a particular brand name, because it can fetch double with this particular name. The Dutch authorities had to go in, and stamp it with a lower class generic stamp.
Food Factory Secrets
Somebody who had worked in the food industry, particularly a meat factory was interviewed. He said that a lot of emphasis was put on branding when they knew the barbecue season, was coming a lot of meat was branded even though it wasn’t that particular brand of meat.
You can get more money if you use the brand of Angus Aberdeen, the only problem with this is you could be eating substandard meat without even knowing. Another tactic which was used, was to recycle meat even though it was old into mince and put it into other food products. Were it would be less likely to be noticed.
The Great British Menu
This is a brand name used by Birds Eye, for their frozen ready meal range. One particular one that was highlighted was a chicken dinner, with carrots, potatoes, chicken and peas.
Which sounds great overall, when Birds Eye were asked where the ingredients came from it was a different matter, the Chicken came from Thailand and the actual meal itself was packaged in Ireland. So again in a way we are being sold a British sounding meal which is made else where.
When you look at the actual boxes of these particular products, there is a picture of countryside. Which gives us that picture branding associated with Britain .
Do we know what outdoor reared means and free range
Do we indeed know what this actually means, the RSPCA did a study and asked people if they knew what this meant, only two percent of the people who are asked actually knew what it meant. If a pig is reared outside only a small percentage of its life is actually outside, so you can get away with saying outdoor reared, free range applies to chickens were they can roam free and are not crammed into pens.
But as we know this all too often isn’t the case chickens can tend to be cooped up, in cramped conditions what we very rarely if ever know this.
Care for a slice of pie
One of the researchers, decided to have their own brand of pie which was fictional of course. He went to a marketing company with a concept for his pie and left it with them.
They used a name of a cottage to associate with the name of the pie, which was a stencilled look of a cottage. And on the front it had three rosettes which said the following statements, British made, fresh vegetables and original recipe. All this kind of labelling is within the guidelines which are laid down for food manufacturers.
So at the end of the process, the researcher had a quite plausible product which could be sold to people, even though they didn’t particularly know what was in the pie. When he interviewed some people on the streets about it.
They were quite surprised that it didn’t even exist, and thought it was very misleading the way it was presented in the packaging.
If you are very careful about what you put on your packaging you can get away with far more than what you think you would do. It’s how you word what you say that matters more than anything.
Is organic salad really organic
A particular product was highlighted during the programme, about a particular type of salad wash, used to wash the salad prior to being packaged. This particular product was called Citrox salad wash. When this particular salad wash was tested initially it passed with flying colours.
But on one particular occasion suspicion was raised and it was found that this particular salad wash had levels of ethylene glycol which to you and me is antifreeze used in cars not very organic I’m sure you would agree. So the salads that were washed in this particular product wouldn’t have been organic.
It’s probably fair to say that we do take for granted a lot of what we eat, and naturally assume that it is what it says it is. But as we can see sometimes that isn’t always necessarily the case.
So on today’s menu it’s
A franken chicken with some fake designer ham
some low-fat meat balls which may be high in fat
some Salmon, that may originate in Scotland . A pie that has a pretty picture and name. Some Thai chicken and Irish vegetables, followed by some out of date mince. And some anti freeze salad not organic.
Now while this may not seem like a realistic menu it probably is more real than we realise. It really does beg the question do we actually know what is in our food. That we buy from trusted places like supermarkets etc.
[...] Original post by Mark [...]