Episode 6 Rip Off Britain

There's a lot we don't know about the food on our plates,

and the shops and the labels don't always tell you the whole story.

Sometimes, when you have these offers on in the supermarket,

you think you're getting a good deal,

but if you're actually throwing it away, it's not a good deal.

Whether you're staying in or going out,

you've told us that you can feel ripped off by the promises made

from what you eat and indeed what you pay for it.

What really winds me up, I suppose,

is the price of so-called healthy food

compared with the unhealthy stuff.

The unhealthy stuff seems to be so much cheaper.

From claims that don't stack up, to the secrets behind the packaging,

we'll uncover the truth about Britain's food

so you can be sure you're getting what you expect at the right price.

Your food, your money - this is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello and welcome to Rip-Off Britain,

where today we're going to be ripping open the packets

and peeling back the labels on some of our most popular foods,

just to see if what it says on the tin is actually what

you're getting, and of course what you're paying for,

because, I have to say, in some cases,

it may not be the full story.

And how true is that?

Because how products are labelled and described can make

all the difference as to whether you want to buy them in the first place.

So if you've ever wondered if buying that bigger size really is worth it,

or you're completely frustrated when you discover that

a bumper packet of crisps seems to be more air and less potato -

as I think I have -

stand by for some tips to make sure that, next time you go shopping,

you're getting proper value for money.

Coming up, why buying a multipack

doesn't always end up saving you money.

That makes the twin pack 30% more expensive.

-That is outrageous!

-It's cheeky.

-It is cheeky.

And would you know how many of these foods

are fit for vegetarians to eat?

There's quite a lot here you'd give them, then?

-Most of it, I think.

-Yeah. Would you?

-Yes, I think so. Yeah.

-I'm wrong, aren't I?

-Yeah.

Next, something that's a real bugbear for a lot of you.

Now, we know from all the e-mails and letters we get about this

just how fed up some of you are

with the way that food packaging sometimes disguises

how little of the actual product might be tucked away inside.

Some of the cereals you buy are three-quarters-full.

Crisp bags, they're half-full, sweet packets are half-full.

I've had it with, like, cakes.

You know, they're in a massive box and there's polystyrene in it,

and then when you get to the cakes, there's hardly anything there.

Normally, when you buy a large bag of potato chips,

you will find that by the time you've opened them up and the air

has come out, the bag is that full, not that full.

Well, a number of you have written to us about exactly this subject

after being disappointed by the contents of

the packaging you've bought.

Wendy Rowland from Carmarthenshire for one.

She has coeliac disease -

an autoimmune disease affecting the digestive system.

There's not a lot of choice when it comes to coeliacs,

for breakfast cereals. It's mainly cornflakes.

When I saw the box of Tesco Special Flakes,

I thought, "Hmm, not a bad price. I'll give them a go."

I opened the box and I thought, "Oh, where's the inner bag?"

And I peered in and I thought, "Oh, that's a bit low."

So I pulled it out and I put it alongside like that

and I thought, "Well, surely they could have filled the box up

with more cereal, because I thought I'd got a box full of cereal."

Now, of course, manufacturers are not breaking any rules by selling

their products in oversized packaging

and Wendy's cornflakes are by no means the only -

or indeed the worst - offender.

'So, I met up with author and shopping psychologist

'Phillip Adcock

'to get his take on a few other products that contain a little less

'than meets the eye.'

When I look at something like this,

I think to myself... I mean, look at that.

It's just about a third full.

It's ridiculous. Why would people pick up a bag of that?

Psychologically, we'll always go for the bigger packet.

And, dare I say, children definitely like the bigger packet

cos they think there's more in it.

I'm going to let you open the packet

cos, as I get older, I can't open any packet at all.

So, we're going to see how many more, in fact, we could get in.

Yeah, so that holds five to start with.

-Five? Only five?

-There's five in there now.

-Gosh, shall I count them in?

-Yeah.

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

11, 12...

13... I'm not going to put it up too high.

-14. I think it would take 15.

-That's probably...

15 would be about the maximum.

-15.

-And that will still stack on the shelf in the supermarket.

-That...

That is terrible, isn't it?

'So, you could quite easily fit in three times as many Mini Moons

'in this packet as Tesco currently puts in.'

I would feel hoodwinked about this packaging.

So what is the answer to that, in terms of the manufacturer?

It's who can be good and shrink their pack,

cos as soon as one shrinks the pack,

-theirs is smaller than everybody else's.

-Mmm.

And so, suddenly, it doesn't look as good value.

'Let's try another. And this one, I must say,

'I do find extraordinary.'

So it says here "five lunchtime loaves".

I would expect that it would be right up to the top.

'Instead, it looked like they'd missed one out.'

So, generally speaking,

is the product inside the bag getting smaller?

Over the years, the supermarkets have negotiated harder and harder

to get us better prices. That's actually a good thing.

It gets to the stage where the brands that supply them

can't make it for the money,

so they have to what they call "value-engineer" the products -

basically give less in the pack.

'And here's another product.

'It's a favourite of my grandchildren, for sure - popcorn.'

So, not quite half.

That's less than half-full.

See, if I opened that and I'd go to stick my hand in it, which I would,

I'd sort of think, "Oh, who's been eating the remainder?"

You know, it looks like somebody's had half the bag, doesn't it?

Back in Wales, Wendy is keen to gauge public opinion on the matter.

Now, she has taken her half-empty cereal packet to Carmarthen

to ask shoppers if they feel

short-changed by the oversized packaging.

If you were buying this packet of cereal,

where would you expect the contents to come up to?

I think a bit higher?

Yeah, I'd say probably about... at least up to there.

If I show you that that's actually where it comes up to,

what would you say, I wonder?

Not good. It is misleading.

Oh, my gosh!

That is, well... That is low, isn't it?

Mmm-hmm.

I think that's a little bit unfair to present something in the box that

is so much too big for it.

Well, it's a rip-off, isn't it?

Because it's more or less half the size.

Well, Wendy didn't meet many people who disagreed with her,

but when we asked Tesco about its packaging of this product,

and indeed about those Mini Moon cheeses I saw earlier,

the company didn't want to comment.

We also contacted Soreen, the maker of those lunchbox loaves,

who told us that after it had

received similar feedback from its own customers,

it has now introduced a new pack, reducing the packaging by 30%.

And Asda, which sells the popcorn,

explained that corn can expand to different sizes

and air is required to protect the popped corn.

But a production line will detect and discard...

But as we dash around the supermarkets,

falling foul of oversized packaging,

Phillip suggests we start thinking differently about the things

we choose to buy.

First thing I would do is I would start to try and ignore -

this is going to sound strange - the price.

Pay attention to the little number in the corner

which is the pence per gram, pence per litre.

Compare those. And that's the second point.

Don't just say, "A pound or a kilo, that's about right,"

look to either side.

Compare. Thirdly, take your glasses.

Yes, remember the glasses - I agree with that.

Here in the UK, it's estimated that more than a million people are

vegetarian, all of them taking great care about the food that they eat,

but it remains the case that several everyday foods that you might assume

are suitable for vegetarians are in fact no such thing.

And even if you do know which ones to watch out for when

you're shopping, you obviously won't have the same control about

what's being put in your food if you're eating out.

Now, you might think that being a vegetarian was relatively

straightforward, provided you follow the one simple rule -

don't eat meat.

But, whilst avoiding a steak or a spag bol should be easy enough,

there are plenty of other foods that throw up more of a problem

because, while you'd probably have never guessed it,

there might be some sort of animal product inside.

Are there foods in which there are animal derivatives that we're not so

clear about? So, let's find out.

How many of these foods really would be safe for a vegetarian to eat?

'We're asking the shoppers at Spitalfields Market in London

'just that question.

'Let's see if they can guess which of these everyday foods

'contains any veggie-unfriendly ingredients.'

What on at this table do you think a vegetarian would be able to eat?

-That.

-Marshmallows? OK.

Worcester sauce.

Worcester sauce, righto.

-Caesar salad.

-Salad.

-Strawberry yoghurt.

-Yeah.

-Grapefruit yoghurt.

-Beer, I think you'd be OK with.

Oh, there's quite a lot you'd give them, then?

Well, most of it, I think.

-Would you?

-Yeah, I think so, yeah. I'm wrong, aren't I?

'I'm afraid he is, and he wasn't alone.'

Marshmallows, no, they definitely can't have the marshmallows.

-It's got beef gelatine in it.

-Right, OK.

Caesar salad has got anchovies in it - can't have that.

Parmesan has got calf's rennet in it.

-Right, OK.

-Right.

The strawberry yoghurt and the pink yoghurt - that's got gelatine in it.

-Oh, so I...

-And that, actually, the pink one contains cochineal,

which is also from animals.

-OK.

-And beer...

-Yeah?

-..has got isinglass, which comes from fish.

Ugh.

'Uh-oh, not a great start,

'but surely Spitalfields' veggies will do a bit better.'

-Are you a vegetarian?

-Yes.

Would you have a look at the foods on this table and tell me which of

these foods you think you could safely eat as a vegetarian?

-Pesto.

-Right.

Well, the pesto, authentic pesto contains calf's rennet

-and some of them have anchovy paste in them.

-Ugh.

-Really?

-Yeah, so that's off the menu.

-Yeah.

-Oh!

-Thanks(!)

Which of these foods do you think you would be able to eat?

-Just beer.

-A beer?

-Yeah.

Well, beer has actually got some isinglass in it, which is from fish.

-No.

-So, you can't eat that.

-No!

Parmesan, I could eat that all day.

I've got a shock for you, vegetarian.

All right. Right, OK.

-It's got calf's rennet in it, proper Parmesan.

-Nice. Lovely.

-All right?

In fact, none of the products on our table

were suitable for non-meat-eaters.

Worcester sauce, for example, contains anchovies,

and many cheeses, - not just Parmesan -

use calf rennet - an enzyme

extracted from their stomachs.

Similarly, the gelatine found in marshmallows -

a substance derived from the skin and bones of animals -

is also found in many ice creams,

dips and yoghurts.

And the beer? Whilst the one we used in this demonstration

wasn't suitable for veggies,

there are plenty of varieties out there that are.

But someone who thinks he would have passed our little test with

flying colours is Rob Colville from Stockport.

He's been meat-free for over 30 years,

and while he's confident that he knows his onions about what's in

the food that he cooks,

the same can't always be said when he goes out for a meal.

I really enjoy eating out at restaurants,

but one of my biggest concerns and frustrations

is the misunderstanding around what is and is not vegetarian,

Parmesan cheese finding its way into a lot of vegetarian-labelled dishes

and it's not vegetarian.

Fish-based products finding itself into a lot of dishes.

A lot of the time, the chefs don't understand what is and is not

vegetarian when it comes to their ingredients,

so these are the people that are cooking the food -

if they don't understand it,

how can vegetarians ever have confidence in eating out?

To try and tackle some of his concerns, today,

Rob is visiting the Vegetarian Society in Cheshire...

-Hello, Lynne.

-Hi, Rob.

-How are you doing?

-I'm...

..to meet boss Lynne Elliott.

-Welcome, and come in.

-Hello. Thank you.

One of the things that concerns me quite a lot is that,

on vegetarian-labelled meals, you're finding things like Parmesan.

-Yeah.

-I mean, is this something you're getting complaints about?

More than half the complaints we get from people about eating out

are exactly about Parmesan, so it's a big problem.

I think that chefs perhaps don't always understand

what is and is not vegetarian.

How can we make that understanding better communicated

through to the restaurant industry?

Yeah, I think you've identified a really big problem,

because it isn't just the chefs - it's the managers,

it's the waiting staff, it's the whole...

You know, everybody who's involved in food outlets and restaurants.

But there's also an education process, really,

about cross-contamination,

because it isn't just the ingredients that are in the food

that you're eating -

it's how it's been handled, how it's been stored,

how it's been prepared and how it's been cooked.

So it just needs to go into the pot of boiling water...

To help all of that,

the Vegetarian Society's principal tutor, Alex Connell,

has been training chefs for over five years.

If you're doing a Thai dish,

watch out for the paste if you use a Thai cookery sauce,

because they sometimes have fish in there.

Alcohol, as well.

Some wine isn't vegetarian,

so you're going to go to the trouble of making some beautiful vegetarian

dishes and then spoiling it at the last bit

by putting a bit of white wine in there that is non-vegetarian.

Today, Alex is meeting Rob...

-Hello.

-Hi, Rob, nice to meet you.

..who wants to grill him about something that he's found

can be one of the most problematic dishes for veggies.

I absolutely love pesto,

but one of the things that really frustrates me sometimes

is that an awful lot of pesto contains

non-vegetarian cheeses, particularly Parmesan.

Parmesan cheese, yeah, and vegetarians don't eat Parmesan, OK?

Now, the reason that it's not vegetarian is that it's got

an enzyme from a calf's stomach

and, unfortunately, the calf has to be killed to get the enzyme,

and that's why Parmesan cheese is not vegetarian.

But, in fact, restaurants could easily make a tasty pesto

that doesn't have that problem.

So, what we're going to do today is we're going to make some

beautiful home-made pesto, which is so easy

and, of course, you know that it's not got the Parmesan in it.

So, the ingredients are some pine nuts, plenty of basil,

garlic, olive oil,

salt and pepper and, if you want to put that...

If you want that cheese flavour,

then you can get an Italian-style hard cheese.

-Put the garlic in there...

-With all of those ingredients

put into a food processor...

So all we need to do is to pop the lid on,

switch it on...

MIXER BUZZES

Hey presto, pesto!

How easy is that?

It's actually really quite straightforward.

Anybody could do it, really.

Yeah, couldn't be easier.

So, if you've got a menu item at a restaurant,

-and you see that there is pesto in that dish...

-Right, yeah.

-..what would you advise?

-Ask. That's the way to...

And if you're not sure, if you think you're getting fudged,

get the manager.

But the thing to look out for, if it's got a "V",

that's great, but the Vegetarian Society does its own

independent checking, so if you see

the Vegetarian Society symbol,

you know that someone's

checked it independently.

And we're done. We just need to serve that.

But it's not just the perils of eating out that can get vegetarians

hot under the collar.

Buying the right foods at the supermarket isn't always

as easy as you might expect.

So, one of the issues we hear a lot about from consumers is,

when they're buying food products, the labelling -

it can be very, very confusing.

There's a lot of names of things

that people have never heard of before.

So there's a lack of consistency and clarity, really.

We have a "Vegetarian Society approved" trademark

and that's an attempt to combat some of that,

so that appears on over 15,000 products now.

But, despite all of these checks,

some products do slip through the net

and have to either be recalled or relabelled.

In February, the National Trust had to pull all of its

mulled wine & whisky truffles after it found that,

despite being labelled as suitable for vegetarians,

they contained carmine, a food colorant derived from animals.

And in November last year,

Lidl withdrew its deluxe olive pesto from sale

after it, too, was wrongly labelled as suitable for vegetarians,

despite it containing anchovy paste.

If you find a product that is labelled suitable for vegetarians

and then you discover that it isn't,

then you can let the Vegetarian Society know,

and also let the manufacturer know, as well,

because the chances are that they will want to rectify

the situation and change the labels as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Rob is happy that so many of his concerns are being tackled,

so that what is and isn't genuinely vegetarian

is much clearer to veggies and meat-eaters alike.

Today has been a really good day.

I've learnt a lot more about what is and is not vegetarian

and also how to tackle the issues when you're not quite sure -

understanding what questions to ask and who to ask them.

Now, if, like me, you fancy yourself as a bit of a savvy shopper,

then you'll always be looking to get the best value for money

when you go to the supermarket,

and you probably assume that a terrific way of making

some tidy savings is to take advantage of multipack offers

on your favourite foods.

After all, buying in bulk has traditionally meant that

you'll be able to get cheaper prices.

But now it seems that may not always be the case.

We've been contacted by a number of viewers who aren't sure whether

the multipacks they regularly buy are the best value for money,

so we've done some investigating to see if multipacks really do

save you a packet.

Whether it's an eight-pack of crisps, six bars of chocolate,

or four tins of sweetcorn,

multipacks seem to offer big savings and a cost-effective way of

stocking up on foods that you regularly eat,

and that can prove a life-saver if you've got a hectic household that

needs a lot of planning,

as is the case for Claire Cremin from Urmston in Manchester.

As a busy mum, and with five children

and running my business from home,

everything throughout my day has to be very finely planned

on a daily planning board, and every minute counts.

I have to be very quick,

fulfilling all the tasks that I've got in the day.

The normal things that you would find easy -

getting up, brushing your teeth, making the breakfast -

can be quite challenging.

So, five plates, five lots of food all out at the same time.

A lot of the time, it's very much just a rush, so it's like,

"Let's see how quickly we can get everything out

"and get everybody eating,

"everybody dressed and then out the door for school."

BABY GIGGLES

With quite a schedule to juggle,

Claire usually heads straight for the multipacks when she does

her shopping, hoping that they'll save her time and money.

I've got to go into the supermarket,

get in and get out with minimal fuss.

And even at the other end, when I'm unpacking it,

I can put one big pack of them away,

as opposed to lots of individual items.

Even storage in the cupboards -

if I can store a multipack easier in the cupboards,

than actual individual items.

With little space,

and lacking in space with seven of us in a small three-bedroom,

we have to think of space-saving, as well.

CHILDREN LAUGH

Claire finds multipacks ideal for quickly putting together

packed lunches for the children, as well...

I've got five packed lunches to make, so the waters,

the crisps and the treats - the chocolate treats -

I would definitely always buy those in a multipack, never individually.

..but Claire has never stopped to work out whether those multipacks

genuinely are saving her cash.

So, I would assume that, if I bought a multipack,

I would be saving money.

I've never checked. Again, if I'm rushing in and out,

I'm not going to spend any time looking at the cost of it

or calculating it,

but I would wholeheartedly assume that I'm saving money when

I buy in bulk, in multipacks.

DOG BARKS

So, to help Claire find out if she's getting the bargains she thinks

she is, we went along with her on a midweek shopping trip

and we took a good look at what she's brought back

from the supermarket.

Inside those shopping bags was a total of 16 products,

on which she spent £43.90.

I firmly believe that buying in multipack saves me money and leaves

more money for us to spend on other things for our family.

We've got our crisps in a 24-pack.

That'll probably last us about three or four days at the maximum.

We always buy chopped tomatoes in a multipack,

purely because we do a lot of chicken dishes and pasta and rice.

I would always pick water.

I would be drawn to this one,

because it's very easy to put... to pick up,

put in the trolley and get home easily with the children with me.

Claire is convinced that she's saved herself a packet,

but retail behavioural expert Phillip Adcock isn't so sure

that that's always the case.

We have been conditioned over our lives to think bigger packs

represent better value.

So, if you've got a small can and a big can,

you think the bigger can will be less per 100ml.

The supermarkets and brands work hard to give us

more product for less money, but there are exceptions to the rule.

Go in there eyes wide open.

'And to prove the point,

'Phillip is going to show me examples of multipacks

'from the big four supermarkets that really could save you money,

'as well as some that, on the days we looked online,

'weren't quite such a bargain.'

Let's start with the crisps, for example.

-This actually is a good deal.

-Ah.

We can buy six packets of Walkers salt-and-vinegar crisps,

and if we buy a six-pack, it costs us £1.50.

That is £1 per 100g.

If we buy one 32...

-That's just a single bag.

-A single bag.

As the foods go, it's a slightly bigger bag, but it's one bag -

that costs us 55p or £1.69 per 100g.

69% more expensive,

so the advice is, go and buy a multipack.

-So the multipack worked out well, then.

-Very well.

Let's go onto the juices. Children love the juices, don't they?

-Not so good.

-Not so good? OK.

-Not so good value.

If you buy eight, that'll cost you £2.98 or 18.6p per 100ml.

If you buy just a single 2.75ml bottle, just one, that's only 18.2p,

so it's cheaper per 100ml to

buy eight singles than one pack of eight.

In your mind, in the consumer mind,

-you'd think it'd be better than the pack.

-Yes, cos we've been trained.

-OK.

-Yes. We've got Maryland cookies.

You can buy two packs, a twin pack -

they're stuck together, in one bag, for £2.49.

That's 62p per 100g.

Or you can buy one times 230ml pack -

one, that's a bigger pack where there's only one -

for 47p per 100g.

That makes the twin pack 30% more expensive.

That is outrageous.

-It's cheeky.

-It is cheeky.

Now, of course, supermarket prices change all the time,

but on the day we checked quite a selection of multipacks,

most of the ones we looked at did offer good value for money.

Nonetheless, there were still a few that worked out more expensive than

if you'd bought the individual items.

Take, for example, this three-pack of Wispa bars.

When we shopped, we found it priced at £1.50 for three 30g bars -

so that's 50p a bar.

Meanwhile, a single 39g bar was 60p.

So, although at first glance

it looks like the multipack offers better value,

in fact, because the bars are smaller in the multipack

per gram of chocolate,

that individual bar works out better value.

Likewise, these Heinz Five Beanz,

on offer the day we checked at three tins for £2,

but you could get exactly the same size single tins for just 50p.

In other words, buying three separate tins rather than

the multipack would save you 50p - the price of a whole extra tin.

Now, supermarkets, on their websites,

do make these price differences clear,

but the time it takes working it all out may outweigh the benefit of

any possible savings.

And, after all, for many, including Claire,

the appeal of the multipack lies in its convenience.

But the good news is that Phillip thinks the examples we found are

an anomaly, and not a deliberate attempt to rip us off.

Supermarketing now, from the retailer's side and the brand side,

is so fast and so furious, they just can't keep up with themselves.

So, if they hear that Morrisons is doing a deal on eight-packs,

Tesco wants the same deal for Pepsi,

so they'll knee-jerk and match the deal,

and what happens is things get out of line.

And whereas we could totally trust everybody to give us the best value,

now it's down to us, because there is no one magic person

keeping an eye on all the prices - the bigger is better value.

As we've highlighted before,

the key to whether a product really is a bargain lies in the unit price

information, usually in the very small print on the shelf label,

and I'm afraid the only way to know for sure is to do your sums,

comparing those unit prices to work out which

is the best value for money.

Focus on the pence per ml, the pence per litre, the pence per gram.

Don't leave your brain in the car.

Treat supermarket shopping as a job of work.

There's lots of bargains to be had, lots of extra value,

but you've got to go out there and look for it.

Back at Claire's house, how did her purchases stack up?

Did she pick multipack bargains or multipack mark-ups?

Well, for 14 of the 16 items she bought,

she had got better value by buying the multipack.

The biggest saving was on crisps,

which were more than £7 less than she'd have paid for

the equivalent weight in individual packets.

But she lost out on two items in her trolley -

her chopped tomatoes and tuna.

The four-pack of chopped tomatoes cost £3.50

but, at the same store,

individual tins were on special offer at 50p each.

So buying four loose ones rather than the multipack

would, today at least, have saved her £1.50.

Similarly, individual tins of tuna were also on offer

at lower than their usual price of £1,

meaning it was cheaper to buy three tins that way

rather than spend £5 on the multipack.

But, overall, Claire's shop was a resounding vote of confidence

in the multipack.

She saved a grand total of £28.93,

compared to what she'd have paid buying the same foods individually.

Wow.

I can't believe it.

I would expect to have saved money, but not quite as much money as that.

If I'd have bought all of these items individually,

my shopping bill would have been nearly double what we actually paid,

so I'm absolutely flabbergasted.

Amazing.

Even so, she'd rather not have lost out on those two items

that weren't better value,

so while she'll still be heading for the multipacks

whenever she goes to the supermarket,

from now on, she might just take a look at some of the other deals

and special offers along the way.

In future, I'd like to think that I will check some of the multipacks to

see if they're on offer,

if it's actually saving the money to buy them individually,

but I don't think it will change the way I shop.

Erm, I'll just be confident that I am going to save some money.

-ALL:

-Yay!

Well, that's just about it for today,

but I do hope that you've been able to pick up some hints and advice

and what to keep in mind about the food you buy.

And, of course, you can also find more advice on our website.

The address is...

And from there you can also send us your own stories

for us to investigate -

whether they're about food or indeed any of the other topics

that we investigate throughout the year.

Well, we'll be back to look into more of your stories very soon,

but, until then, thanks for joining us

and, until next time, from all of us here, goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.