0:00:02 > 0:00:04There's a lot we don't know about the food on our plates,
0:00:04 > 0:00:08and the shops and the labels don't always tell you the whole story.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11I think they encourage you to buy more than you need.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13And that causes a lot of waste.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Whether you're staying in or going out,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18you've told us that you can feel ripped off
0:00:18 > 0:00:22by the promises made for what you eat, and indeed what you pay for it.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25How do you know that it's half-price, right?
0:00:25 > 0:00:27So what they've done, they've bumped the price up
0:00:27 > 0:00:29and then knocked it down.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33From claims that don't stack up, to the secrets behind the packaging,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36we'll uncover the truth about Britain's food
0:00:36 > 0:00:39so that you can be sure that you are getting what you expect,
0:00:39 > 0:00:40at the right price.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Your food, your money.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45This is Rip-Off Britain.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Hello, and welcome to Rip-Off Britain, where this series we're
0:00:52 > 0:00:58looking into something that I think it's safe to say none of us can do without. Food.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01- Correct.- Our choice of what we eat and drink is often determined by
0:01:01 > 0:01:03how much it costs or how it tastes.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05But something else that plays a crucial part is
0:01:05 > 0:01:07whether or not we think it's good for us,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09or even if it's safe.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Very good point, and today we'll be looking into stories that one way or
0:01:12 > 0:01:17another bring the safety of what we're consuming into question. Now, in some cases, that's because of an
0:01:17 > 0:01:20event that's made the headlines or led to official warnings.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23In others, it's simply down to fears of what can happen
0:01:23 > 0:01:26if we have too much. But we'll be getting to the bottom of some more
0:01:26 > 0:01:28- common concerns as well. - Yes, indeed.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32It's worries that something might potentially cause us a problem, which
0:01:32 > 0:01:35aren't always on a scale that they actually do make the newspapers.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39But of course they can still influence our everyday behaviour.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42So, as we explore the risks behind things that are fundamental to our
0:01:42 > 0:01:46lives, we're also going to be seeing whether or not there's any truth to
0:01:46 > 0:01:51a food-safety principle that you may well already be following in your own home.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Coming up, how hundreds of thousands of households ended up being
0:01:55 > 0:01:58told they should no longer drink their tap water.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01You can put a man on the moon but you can't control our water supply.
0:02:01 > 0:02:06It's not acceptable for anybody to have dirty drinking water in the UK.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And the door-to-door fish scam that saw this woman
0:02:11 > 0:02:14tricked into buying a lot more fish than she wanted.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17And why it wasn't such a good idea to eat it.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20When I looked at the receipt, it said £204.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24I nearly died. I didn't know which way to turn.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Now, here in the UK we're very lucky to be able to take
0:02:32 > 0:02:34our tap water almost for granted.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38You pay your bills and, in return, you get nice, clean, safe water.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42But, last summer, all of that was turned upside down for residents
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and businesses in parts of Lancashire when
0:02:45 > 0:02:49their water supplies were contaminated with a rather nasty bug
0:02:49 > 0:02:52that can cause some very unpleasant symptoms.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55So, how did such a situation come about and,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00whichever part of the country we live in, how worried should we be
0:03:00 > 0:03:03about finding ourselves in the same situation?
0:03:03 > 0:03:05DOG BARKS
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Annette Begg keeps extremely busy running a kennel, and filling
0:03:09 > 0:03:13bowls of drinking water for over 40 dogs up to four times a day can be
0:03:13 > 0:03:16thirsty work, especially over the summer months.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18It's the busiest time of the year for us.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23We work a 15-hour day most days, and you live on-site.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26So even during the night you might be out of bed going seeing a dog
0:03:26 > 0:03:29who's barking. So, it's a long day.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34But, in early August 2015, something happened seven miles away
0:03:34 > 0:03:37which meant that Annette's days were about to get even longer.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42United Utilities say they've been doing everything
0:03:42 > 0:03:44they can to make tap water safe again
0:03:44 > 0:03:47after cryptosporidium was found at this treatment plant.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53One of Britain's biggest water companies, United Utilities,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56issued a warning after a routine test of the water being sent out
0:03:56 > 0:04:00from its treatment works in Preston turned up traces of a nasty
0:04:00 > 0:04:02parasite called cryptosporidium,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07which can cause diarrhoea and abdominal cramps.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11More than 300,000 homes across Lancashire were advised to
0:04:11 > 0:04:14boil water before drinking it, in order to kill off any bugs.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18So, naturally, Annette felt she had no choice but to boil
0:04:18 > 0:04:20all the dogs' drinking water too.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Although we didn't receive any information as to
0:04:23 > 0:04:24whether it would affect dogs,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28we thought that we'd better take that precaution.
0:04:28 > 0:04:29Obviously, if it's not fit for us to drink,
0:04:29 > 0:04:34I wouldn't be giving the water to our guests' dogs, it's too risky.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Because of the sheer volume of water the kennel needs,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Annette ended up boiling her kettle up to 100 times a day.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46And, when we filmed with her, right in the thick of it all,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50it was clearly a real slog to keep up.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54We're in and out every few minutes, boiling kettles,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58pouring it into a watering can, bringing it outside to cool.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00It's just all day long, really.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Annette says she was told about the bug by a customer,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06rather than the water company itself.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10But it wasn't until a few days later that United Utilities put
0:05:10 > 0:05:11a leaflet through her letterbox
0:05:11 > 0:05:16confirming the situation and offering advice on what to do.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19It was shortly after that when we visited the kennels,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23but with the contamination at that point still not sorted,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Annette was getting close to the end of her tether.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28The water board should be providing us with water
0:05:28 > 0:05:31if they're not supplying it. We've paid our bills,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34we've paid for drinking water to come out of our taps.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39It's not, so they should be providing it, in my opinion.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43There's just not a great deal of information. It's been a week today
0:05:43 > 0:05:46since it started and they were still saying on the news this morning that
0:05:46 > 0:05:49this cryptosporidium was still present in the water.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55In the end, it was a month before all of those hundreds of thousands
0:05:55 > 0:05:59of homes were advised that their water no longer needed to be boiled.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03And 50 miles away from Annette, in Blackpool, the outbreak had
0:06:03 > 0:06:06had a similarly disastrous effect on Graham Atkinson,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09who was busy running a hotel that caters for disabled guests
0:06:09 > 0:06:11and their carers.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Our guests are very vulnerable. We cater for people with disabilities
0:06:15 > 0:06:19ranging from dementia right the way up to autism, and we cannot afford
0:06:19 > 0:06:22to have them being ill through someone else's fault.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24They told us we weren't allowed to let them
0:06:24 > 0:06:29have water for drinking purposes or anything like that.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32The guests that Graham looks after are particularly susceptible
0:06:32 > 0:06:34to contracting illness.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38So, when we visited the hotel, again right in the middle of the crisis,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43making sure that any water he used was bug-free was his top priority.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46We are worried that one of the guests gets the bug, cos they'll end
0:06:46 > 0:06:51up in hospital, and we could be at total blame for it, knowing about the issue.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Ten days into the situation, to ensure that his guests had
0:06:54 > 0:06:58clean drinking water, Graham was able to get the water company
0:06:58 > 0:07:01to provide some safe supplies, and from that point on his guests
0:07:01 > 0:07:04were given plenty of bottled water during their stay.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08But the ramifications of the contaminated tap water were
0:07:08 > 0:07:09felt throughout the hotel.
0:07:09 > 0:07:15Our chef, she's been washing all the salads with bottled water.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Everything's had to be boiled and boiled and boiled,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and it's really hard work because they're having to check all
0:07:21 > 0:07:23the waters are on getting boiled.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Really, really been a long, long process for us, this has.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Though, like most people affected by the contamination,
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Graham did manage to get by.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35But he still has questions as to how the bug managed
0:07:35 > 0:07:38to get into the water supply in the first place.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41All the local presses are saying it's animal faeces that
0:07:41 > 0:07:43have got into the water system.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46I'd like to know where that's come from. That's an awful thing,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49thinking we've got to drink animal faeces in the water.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Of course, water contamination like the Lancashire incident are very
0:07:53 > 0:07:56rare indeed. The water that normally comes out of our taps
0:07:56 > 0:08:00here in the United Kingdom is among some of the cleanest,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03the safest and the purest in the world. And that's because of the
0:08:03 > 0:08:07very stringent cleaning and filtering processes that it has to
0:08:07 > 0:08:09go through before it gets anywhere near our homes.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13So, I've come here to see what happens to the stuff in there,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16in reservoirs like that all over the country,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18before we ever get to turn on the taps.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24- Robin, good morning.- Good morning, Angela, welcome to Anglian Water.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25- Come on inside.- Terrific, let's go.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Anglian Water of course had nothing to do with what happened on the
0:08:28 > 0:08:32other side of the country in Lancashire. But all drinking water
0:08:32 > 0:08:35in the UK must adhere to the same standards that are
0:08:35 > 0:08:38set out by the World Health Organization and EU legislation.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42So, Dr Robin Price is going to show me exactly how this plant
0:08:42 > 0:08:46makes water clean and fit to drink from the Rutland Reservoir.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48So where's all the water coming from that you're treating here?
0:08:48 > 0:08:51So, the water for here comes from one of our reservoirs.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54We've got reservoirs, rivers, we've got boreholes right the way across
0:08:54 > 0:08:58the region. And we produce on average just over one billion litres
0:08:58 > 0:09:02of water every day. And this site alone produces over 1,000 litres of
0:09:02 > 0:09:06safe, clean drinking water for over a million customers in the local area.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09They start by getting rid of all the superfluous natural
0:09:09 > 0:09:13contents of the water, like silt, soil and sediment, before pumping
0:09:13 > 0:09:17what's left into this room for the next stage of the cleansing process.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Robin, what's happening in here, then? I mean, this water looks
0:09:20 > 0:09:23pretty clean to me. I can actually see the pipework all the way down through.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25What we're doing here is filtering it.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28This is the first stage of the filtration process.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31And, believe it or not, the water's actually being filtered through
0:09:31 > 0:09:34sand, a couple of different grades of sand, which is the same way the
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Romans did it. So this is one of the oldest forms of water treatment and
0:09:37 > 0:09:38we still do it today cos it's so effective.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40We've never been able to improve on it?
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Never been able to improve on it, absolutely. So, if it was good
0:09:43 > 0:09:45enough for the Romans, it's good enough for us.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48- And where does it go from here?- What we do next with it is, actually,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51we add a dose of ozone. Ozone's a very powerful chemical.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53This is the dissolved material, so dissolved things,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57we blast them with ozone and then we use these carbon filters.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59It's the sort of thing you'd have if you had a domestic water filter.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02'Once all the particles are filtered out,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05'the water is ready to be disinfected.'
0:10:05 > 0:10:06What do you do when you disinfect it,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09because that sounds as if you're going to leave a residue behind?
0:10:09 > 0:10:11So, we add chlorine to the water.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14The chlorine just makes sure the water stays safe,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16stays disinfected right the way through to the customer's tap.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20We then leave it in a tank for a period of time just to give
0:10:20 > 0:10:24it time to work, and the water is then pumped out.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Chlorine levels are carefully controlled.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31In March this year, water company Severn Trent had to warn thousands
0:10:31 > 0:10:35of homeowners not to use their water after finding abnormally high
0:10:35 > 0:10:40amounts of the chemical. But such incidents aren't common and, once
0:10:40 > 0:10:43the chlorine has done its job, as it has here in Rutland,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47that is when the water begins its final journey into our homes.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52We've got about 40,000 miles' worth of pipes between...across our whole
0:10:52 > 0:10:56region, and that's enough to go from London to Sydney and back again.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00This is tested continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nationally
0:11:00 > 0:11:03across the whole of England, it's about four and a half million,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06heading on for five million tests are done on drinking water.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08So you really can be assured
0:11:08 > 0:11:11that you're drinking safe, clean drinking water at all times.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14But if the system is so robust, it does rather raise
0:11:14 > 0:11:18the question of how exactly things went so wrong in Lancashire.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20And, when we put that question to United Utilities,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24the company responsible, it couldn't give us an answer, saying,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26"The matter is still being investigated by the
0:11:26 > 0:11:31"Drinking Water Inspectorate, with the results yet to be published."
0:11:31 > 0:11:34But, in the meantime, United Utilities told us that it
0:11:34 > 0:11:36wanted to apologise again to customers,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and to thank them for their patience and understanding.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42It said that the boiled water notice was...
0:11:43 > 0:11:46..issued following consultation with the authorities,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and that every aspect of how the incident was reported
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and communicated with customers was carried out in accordance
0:11:52 > 0:11:54with the correct procedures.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56The water company went on to say that
0:11:56 > 0:11:59during the time it was working hard to remove the bug
0:11:59 > 0:12:02and distribute bottled water to vulnerable customers,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04it kept customers informed...
0:12:07 > 0:12:08..as well as by setting up...
0:12:08 > 0:12:11in the affected areas,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and taking on extra call-centre staff to deal with inquiries.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And it added that it...
0:12:19 > 0:12:21..at a level set following discussions with
0:12:21 > 0:12:25the Consumer Council for Water, with business customers advised
0:12:25 > 0:12:28that they could make a claim for any additional losses.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32And back at the kennels, Annette did exactly that.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36United Utilities gave her £500 towards the cost of the extra staff
0:12:36 > 0:12:38that she took on during the crisis,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41as well as £60 towards her household costs.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44But she says that that has still left her out of pocket,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47as well as wondering if the situation might reoccur.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It shouldn't have happened this time so, unless they find out what's
0:12:51 > 0:12:56gone wrong and fix it, there is a chance that it could happen again.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It just causes so much work for us.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Meanwhile, Graham too has had his confidence shaken
0:13:03 > 0:13:07in a commodity that we're usually lucky enough to take for granted.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10You can put a man on the moon but you can't control our water supply.
0:13:10 > 0:13:15It's not acceptable for anybody to have dirty drinking water in the UK.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Since our last film looking at sugar,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26I really have been following all the news coverage about our love
0:13:26 > 0:13:29of the sweeter things in life with great interest.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Sugar is very rarely out of the headlines,
0:13:31 > 0:13:34and while many manufacturers have taken steps to reduce
0:13:34 > 0:13:38the amount they add to their foods, there's been one area where, quite
0:13:38 > 0:13:41astonishingly, over the last few months, we've found some companies
0:13:41 > 0:13:44that have bucked that trend. So, if you hadn't already guessed,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48the section of the market we're talking about is breakfast cereals.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50So why is it that some big names have been
0:13:50 > 0:13:54so resistant to cutting the amount of sugar they put in what they sell?
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Especially when so many of their products are aimed at children.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Whether it's talk of a sugar tax,
0:14:01 > 0:14:06or continued concerns that we're having too much, sugar is big news.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Health campaigners have long been saying that the amount
0:14:09 > 0:14:12of sugars added to all sorts of everyday foods is simply too high.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16And they've been calling for a big reduction,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20especially in some types of one particular food, breakfast cereal.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Now, since we first looked into sugar in cereals a couple of series
0:14:23 > 0:14:27ago, some manufacturers have worked hard to reduce
0:14:27 > 0:14:30the level of sugar in their cereals, but not all of them.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33And even those who are cutting sugar levels aren't always doing it
0:14:33 > 0:14:35with the brands that contain the most.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40It's something that the campaign group Action on Sugar has been
0:14:40 > 0:14:43carefully monitoring over the last few years.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Jenny Rosborough has been leading the research.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50So, Jenny, you've been looking at cereals for the last three years
0:14:50 > 0:14:53or something like that. So what have your findings been?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56So we compared data between 2012 and 2015,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and we found that actually the cereals containing
0:14:59 > 0:15:03the highest amount of sugar had done little to change the amounts.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06So they either stayed the same or actually increased in some cases.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11The research carried out in 2015 showed that some cereals had
0:15:11 > 0:15:13significantly reduced their sugar content,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16most notably the rebranded Honey Monster Puffs,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20once known as Sugar Puffs, and Simply M&S Cornflakes.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23However, many of the sweetest cereals on the market,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26easily identifiable because the traffic-light labelling
0:15:26 > 0:15:30on the front of the packet is red to show the sugar content is high,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33haven't reduced the amounts at all.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37And there was even one, Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Honey & Nut Clusters,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40that had actually seen its sugar levels go up.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42But, whatever your own views on the topic might be,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46few would argue that given all the current hoo-ha around sugar,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49it's perhaps very surprising that manufacturers don't appear
0:15:49 > 0:15:51to be reducing its levels at a faster rate,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55particularly in those cereals that contain the most of it.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58What I don't understand is why, when I look down the aisles,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02I see chocolate being added, even little sweets being added,
0:16:02 > 0:16:03and honey being added.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06And, I have to say, because I've been watching my sugar levels,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09it really, really drives me insane.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12So, manufacturers will say that it can be down to
0:16:12 > 0:16:16consumer preference, so people like the taste of high-sugar cereals.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19But the problem is, the more that we have these high-sugar cereals, the
0:16:19 > 0:16:21more we want them, our taste preferences change.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Equally, if we reduce the amount of sugar in it,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26then we will adapt our taste preferences to that as well.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28So it needs to be done slowly.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33And sugar is a taste that can be very hard to give up.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Professor Jane Ogden is a psychologist who specialises
0:16:36 > 0:16:38in branding and diet. She says from a young age,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41we're brought up wanting sugar for breakfast.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45What happens with sweetened cereals is that there's a whole
0:16:45 > 0:16:49marketing process which tells us that these are nice foods to eat,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52that they will get us awake in the morning, that they will give us
0:16:52 > 0:16:56energy throughout the day. So, on top of a very slight preference for
0:16:56 > 0:16:59sweet foods, we then have all that learning, all that meaning and
0:16:59 > 0:17:03interpretation that goes into it, which then means that we then
0:17:03 > 0:17:05go and buy them and then we eat them.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08But are we eating sugary cereals just out of habit,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10or do we genuinely prefer the taste?
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Jane wants to know if we're particularly drawn to cereals that
0:17:13 > 0:17:17have the most sugar, or whether in reality we can't tell the difference.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So we asked some of the students from the University of Surrey
0:17:22 > 0:17:24to take part in a little experiment.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27They'll be trying three different brands of the same
0:17:27 > 0:17:29type of cereal, frosted flakes.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Now, each is from a different supermarket,
0:17:32 > 0:17:34and each has a different sugar content.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Bowl B contains the flakes with the most sugar,
0:17:37 > 0:17:42bowl A has slightly less, and bowl C has the least sugar of all.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47In fact, bowl B has nearly 30% more sugar than bowl C.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49So, spoons at the ready, and we're off.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Hmm, that one's quite sweet.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57We want to know which of the three cereals these students said they preferred.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01So let's see if it was the one that was the sweetest, bowl B.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06- B was the nicest, that was the most tasty.- I liked the middle one.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08- The tastiest I thought was B.- I prefer B.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11I kind of like B cos it's not too sugary.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13In fact, of the ten students we asked,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17seven said they preferred the taste of cereal B, the highest in sugar,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20which does seem to back up what manufacturers sometimes say in
0:18:20 > 0:18:24defence of their sweetest products, that customers like the taste.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26But the choice seems to be an instinctive rather than
0:18:26 > 0:18:27conscious decision.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30To be honest, I don't even look at the boxes,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33I kind of just stick with a brand that I know.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36Really, you actually just...there's no way to tell.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40And what genuinely stood out from this little sample was that,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43when we asked the students which of the three cereals they thought
0:18:43 > 0:18:48was the sweetest, they didn't necessarily go for sugary bowl B,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50the one they'd previously said they'd preferred.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54In fact, the one that half of them chose as the sweetest was
0:18:54 > 0:18:57actually the one that had the least amount of sugar.
0:18:57 > 0:18:58I thought it didn't taste like sugar.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01That's interesting, I wouldn't have expected that one.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05That one didn't taste as sugary, but that one was, like...really sugary.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08So overall, the most important thing to come out of this, I think,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11is that people cannot tell how much sugar is in a cereal
0:19:11 > 0:19:15and whether the cereal has full sugar or lowered sugar.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19And that's particularly striking, because our sweetest bowl, B,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23contains so much extra sugar that if you ate it every day for a year,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25you'd have consumed a full 9kg more sugar than
0:19:25 > 0:19:29if you'd had bowl C, our least sweet bowl of flakes.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35Yeah, you can tell that has more sugar in, but I didn't think
0:19:35 > 0:19:37that much more sugar. That's really odd, to hear it like that.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So although this is by no means anything more than a snapshot,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and the taste of course is very subjective,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46it does suggest however that we can't always tell which products
0:19:46 > 0:19:48contain the most sugar and which don't.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Which is why checking those red traffic lights on the front of the
0:19:51 > 0:19:55packets is the only way to be sure exactly how much you're eating.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58But with so many of those staying so firmly in the red,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01it does once again raise the question of why some manufacturers
0:20:01 > 0:20:05are not making more progress in bringing sugar levels down.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08And it can't simply be that they're worried how that might affect
0:20:08 > 0:20:13the taste, because the manufacturer of Honey Monster Puffs, Halo Foods,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17who recently announced a further cut in the cereal's sugar levels, says
0:20:17 > 0:20:20that over the last decade, it has slashed the amount of sugar in the
0:20:20 > 0:20:25product by 50% without, it insists, compromising on taste or flavour.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Well, when we asked Kellogg's why the sugar content of its
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Crunchy Nut Honey & Nut Clusters cereal had actually slightly
0:20:34 > 0:20:37increased, rather than coming down, it explained that it was an
0:20:37 > 0:20:40unintentional increase due to...
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Pointing out that the increase was...
0:20:52 > 0:20:56..the company insisted it's committed to adapting its recipes to...
0:20:58 > 0:20:59..with an ongoing...
0:20:59 > 0:21:03..that's already seen sugar levels come down in other products
0:21:03 > 0:21:05such as Special K and Bran Flakes.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And the Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers was keen
0:21:10 > 0:21:13to stress the health benefits of cereals such as vitamins
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and minerals and fibre from the wholegrains they provide.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18It said that, overall,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21the amount of sugar in cereals has reduced over the past five years,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25and pointed out that, with so many varieties available, there is...
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Meanwhile, campaign group Action on Sugar has been
0:21:34 > 0:21:37turning its attention to other products as well.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40In February, its research on sugar levels in high-street coffees
0:21:40 > 0:21:43made the headlines after the discovery
0:21:43 > 0:21:46that some of the big-chain products contained the equivalent of up
0:21:46 > 0:21:48to 25 teaspoons of sugar!
0:21:50 > 0:21:52The companies concerned insisted they had plans
0:21:52 > 0:21:56to significantly reduce their sugar levels by the year 2020.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59But as far as Action on Sugar is concerned,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04only more intervention from the top will have the necessary impact.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The Government need to come out with a strong plan to make
0:22:07 > 0:22:10a consistent level playing field with sugar reduction targets
0:22:10 > 0:22:13for manufacturers to really see any kind of impact across the board.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17And we also need a much stricter monitoring system to be able to see
0:22:17 > 0:22:21exactly what is going on, so we know which companies are making changes,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25which ones aren't, and which ones need to be pressured to do that.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Well, the Department of Health told us that it's looking at all of this
0:22:29 > 0:22:31as part of its childhood-obesity strategy,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34which is due to be published in the summer of 2016.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38It will examine what can be done by all sides to tackle the issues that
0:22:38 > 0:22:41contribute to the obesity epidemic, including sugar.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45In the meantime, when it comes to breakfast cereals,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48remember that there are plenty of varieties that have a fraction
0:22:48 > 0:22:52of the sugar that you'll find in the ones that hog the headlines.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And simply adding a bit of fruit on top will just as effectively
0:22:55 > 0:22:57give them that sweeter taste.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Still to come on Rip-Off Britain,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10you've heard people talk about the three- or the five-second rule
0:23:10 > 0:23:12when they drop food on the floor.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16But is there any science behind how long it stays safe to pick up?
0:23:16 > 0:23:20So, Anthony, three seconds or five seconds?
0:23:20 > 0:23:23It really depends on what you drop and where you drop it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28I'm sure you've been in this position yourself,
0:23:28 > 0:23:32but door-to-door salesmen can try and talk you into buying all sorts of things.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35And while there is a chance that you might sometimes be interested
0:23:35 > 0:23:38when the less scrupulous and more pushy ones come calling,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42it can prove very hard indeed to politely say no
0:23:42 > 0:23:45and get them to leave without either losing your temper or some
0:23:45 > 0:23:46cash in the process.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Well, when the couple we're about to meet answered a knock at their door last year,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53they ended up with an unmanageable amount of food that they just
0:23:53 > 0:23:56didn't need, as well as seriously out of pocket.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58And with Trading Standards right across the country issuing
0:23:58 > 0:24:02warnings about exactly this kind of operation, it's clear that what's
0:24:02 > 0:24:06going on is much fishier than might appear when you first open the door.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11It's a particularly nasty scam that starts with a simple
0:24:11 > 0:24:13knock at the door.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17And it's one the authorities say especially targets older people.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Just like Marion and Alan Johnson from Lancashire.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27I'm 85. And my husband's 88.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33We've been married for 65 years. And counting.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35But after some health problems in 2015,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Marion relies on her children to help her out.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42I am not as mobile as I used to be.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45I was in hospital in February.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47With pneumonia.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Two of my daughters come down every week.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55And my son comes regularly.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58So when there was a knock on her door in October last year,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Marion initially thought it was someone calling to check up on her.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04And even when he began his sales pitch,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07she had no idea his intentions were far less charitable.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12This fella said, "Would you like some fish?"
0:25:14 > 0:25:17So I said, "I'm not a great lover of fish, but...
0:25:17 > 0:25:19"I'll have some if you like."
0:25:19 > 0:25:21I said, "I only want a bit," you know.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24He said, "All right, I'll make you a little parcel up."
0:25:25 > 0:25:28But thinking it was easier just to agree to the man's offer,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and unable to stay on her feet too long, Marion left
0:25:31 > 0:25:36the fish seller to it and went to sit down again in her living room.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40I left the door open for him so that he could come in.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44I just asked him, "Do you mind putting it in the kitchen for me?"
0:25:44 > 0:25:46And he said, "No, of course not."
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Marion says she was told that the fish would cost her £24,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and that she could pay by bank card.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57But she made the mistake of not checking the amount or indeed the receipt.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01And that was about to lead to a very unpleasant surprise.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04So I left the receipt, I never looked at it,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and then, after he'd gone, I went to put the fish away
0:26:07 > 0:26:11and I thought, "I've never seen so much fish in my life."
0:26:11 > 0:26:14There were about 30 packets of fish,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17each with five pieces of fish in.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21So I thought, "I've nowhere to put this!"
0:26:21 > 0:26:24So I thought, "It's a lot, that, for £24."
0:26:24 > 0:26:28So when I looked at the receipt, it said £204.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32I nearly died. I didn't know which way to turn.
0:26:32 > 0:26:38It was more than a week's pension for her. Gone.
0:26:38 > 0:26:39It was a nightmare.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42I never slept that night. It was horrible.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45I thought, "What am I going to do with all this fish? Where am I going to put it?"
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Marion called her bank to try and stop the payment, but as
0:26:50 > 0:26:55she had paid by debit card, she was told that nothing could be done.
0:26:55 > 0:26:56I felt sick, really.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I've had a bad year this year with illnesses and whatnot.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03And hospital appointments. And so it...
0:27:03 > 0:27:07It just made me feel worse. I kept waking up at night seeing fish.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Fish for evermore.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Realising she'd been duped, Marion got in touch with
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Lancashire Trading Standards to see if they could help.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20And it was then she was told that they'd received another 29 complaints about
0:27:20 > 0:27:25door-to-door fish sellers in the area over the last couple of months.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28In fact, with a few more similarly fishy tales subsequently
0:27:28 > 0:27:31added to the tally, they've had seven times as many
0:27:31 > 0:27:34complaints on this as in the previous year.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36Dawn Robinson is leading the investigation.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39What type of complaints have you been receiving?
0:27:39 > 0:27:42The sort of complaints we've got are about aggressive,
0:27:42 > 0:27:43high-pressure selling,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47so people, say, agreeing to buy perhaps two evening meals' worth
0:27:47 > 0:27:49of fish, and then before they know what's happening, they've
0:27:49 > 0:27:52handed over their credit card and paid £300.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55The suspect traders that you've been describing,
0:27:55 > 0:27:56what do we know about them?
0:27:56 > 0:28:00We think they're salesmen rather than actual fishmongers.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03They generally tend to go to wholesalers up in the north-east,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05so the fish will be fine when they buy it.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06They'll load it into a van.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09They will then drive down and start selling the fish,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and they're targeting the suburbs.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16They're targeting areas with lots of older people's bungalows -
0:28:16 > 0:28:20places where they think they'll find people in during the afternoon.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23It's not just the unsavoury sales tactics that
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Trading Standards are worried about.
0:28:25 > 0:28:26It's the fish itself.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28With most of it unlabelled,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31there's no way of knowing how old it is, where it's come from
0:28:31 > 0:28:32and how it's been stored,
0:28:32 > 0:28:37or even if it really is the type of fish the salesmen claim.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40But after hearing from so many other people who've been talked into buying it,
0:28:40 > 0:28:45Dawn and her team have been able to assemble quite a collection.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46These are consumer samples.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50These are things that they've purchased from the doorstep.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52These packs of salmon were sold as one-and-a-half pounds
0:28:52 > 0:28:56when actually they weigh 400g, which is less than a pound.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58So that's trying to show people they're getting a bargain.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Also you can see the labels have been taken off.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06- People do not know what they're buying.- So really this whole thing is misleading.- Yes, it is.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09My concern here as a consumer, if I had bought this at the door,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12is the fact that there is just nothing at all on it to say
0:29:12 > 0:29:17"sell by", "use by", "packed by", which fishmonger...
0:29:17 > 0:29:19- There's nothing to come back on with this.- No.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22So how do you know, if you eat it three days later, if it's still fit to eat?
0:29:22 > 0:29:25How do you know what the use-by date is on the day you buy it?
0:29:25 > 0:29:27If you buy from somebody that you don't know,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30then you have no idea how it's been stored in the van.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34We have seen unrefrigerated vans selling this fish.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36You don't know what species of fish you're buying.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39You don't know the weight you're buying. You don't know the use-by date.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41You don't know who's packed it.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43You don't know if it's been line-caught or farmed.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46You know absolutely nothing about this fish.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49But this isn't just confined to Lancashire.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51After warnings of the same kind of suspect fish sellers
0:29:51 > 0:29:54right across the north-east and north-west of England,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57with cases reported further south in places such as Wiltshire,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Trading Standards has set up a national task force,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02Operation Arwen, to tackle the problem.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05So the big question is "What is Trading Standards doing?"
0:30:05 > 0:30:08We've put out a lot of publicity, and then we have a
0:30:08 > 0:30:14national operation where information from all around the country is being
0:30:14 > 0:30:17collated to see where the problems are, who the
0:30:17 > 0:30:21problem traders are, and decide who is best to tackle that.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24They also tested some of the samples of fish they'd collected
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and found that many of them were completely different
0:30:27 > 0:30:30types of fish than the customers had been told they were buying.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33So people who thought they were buying sea bass were actually
0:30:33 > 0:30:36buying saithe, a cheap type of pollock.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Others believing they were buying wild salmon were actually buying
0:30:39 > 0:30:40farmed salmon.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43And however it was described or labelled, the fish was
0:30:43 > 0:30:48usually found to be poor quality and frequently unfit for consumption.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52So as far as the consumer's concerned, what advice would you give them?
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Well, our first and most important piece of advice is don't deal on
0:30:56 > 0:31:00the doorstep when you're cold-called by somebody that you don't know.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02There are lots of local fishmongers who deliver.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05There's no reason to deal with somebody that you know
0:31:05 > 0:31:07nothing about the history of.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10As for Marion and Alan, who, like plenty of others,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13found out too late that they'd been charged over the odds for
0:31:13 > 0:31:15more fish than they could ever imagine eating - indeed,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17over the first few days they did try
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and struggle through it at lunch and at dinner as well.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22But after spotting an article in the local paper,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25warning about the same door-to-door seller,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28which made clear that his fish was unfit for human consumption,
0:31:28 > 0:31:30they simply threw the rest of it away.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34After such a costly reminder of the perils of doorstep selling,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36they've taken steps to make sure that they don't get
0:31:36 > 0:31:39taken in by anything like this ever again.
0:31:39 > 0:31:40Since that happened,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I've now put a notice on my front door to warn people.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50I just tell everybody to beware of people knocking on your door,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53and get a notice put on your door like I have.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03As we saw earlier in the programme,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06the UK's water companies spend millions ensuring that the
0:32:06 > 0:32:10water that gets to our taps is in sparkling condition.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12But how can we make sure that it stays that way
0:32:12 > 0:32:16when it comes out, and that it tastes as good as it possibly can?
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Well, Anglian Water's Regional Water Quality Manager, Dr Robin Price,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24says we have to do rather more than just turn on the taps.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28One of the simplest things we can do is to clean our kitchen tap.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Particularly important if we've been washing vegetables, raw meat,
0:32:32 > 0:32:34or if we've let any of our pets anywhere near it.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37We all wash our kitchen side, we all wash the kitchen top.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39How many of us remember to wash the tap itself?
0:32:40 > 0:32:44In most homes, it is still recommended that, for drinking water,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47we take the water that comes out of the tap in the kitchen,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50rather than having a glass from the bathroom.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53The water that comes out your bathroom tap is mains water,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56but often it will have been stored in a tank in your attic or loft.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58It's absolutely essential that you keep an eye on that tank -
0:32:58 > 0:33:01make sure it's covered, nothing can fall in.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03Perfectly fine to clean your teeth with the water from the tap,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05but if you want a glass of water,
0:33:05 > 0:33:07we'd always advise you go to the kitchen tap for that.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10And don't panic if the water from your taps comes out cloudy.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13It is still perfectly fine to drink.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16If, when you run a glass of water, it comes out looking a bit cloudy,
0:33:16 > 0:33:18that's really nothing to worry about at all.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21It's millions and millions of tiny air bubbles, and, believe it or not,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24that can be caused by something as simple as your hot and cold water pipes
0:33:24 > 0:33:26just being a little bit too close together.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30If that happens, just simply insulating your pipes will cure the problem for you.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35One reason why some people prefer to drink bottled water is because they
0:33:35 > 0:33:38think that they can taste chemicals in the stuff from the taps.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41A common worry that people have is that they can taste or smell
0:33:41 > 0:33:42chlorine in their water.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44This is perfectly normal.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48We add chlorine as part of our water treatment processes to make sure the water's safe to drink.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51So if you can smell chlorine, you can be reassured that the water's safe.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55To get rid of that taste, leave a jug of tap water
0:33:55 > 0:33:58in the fridge for a few hours and it'll soon go away.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02But don't leave it any longer than a day, because removing the chlorine
0:34:02 > 0:34:06means that the water is no longer protected from bacterial growth.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Finally, there have been concerns that water pipes
0:34:08 > 0:34:12made from lead can be dangerous for pregnant women and children.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15Homes built since the 1970s have done away with them.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18So how can you tell if your water pipes are lead?
0:34:18 > 0:34:21It's easy to find out if you have. Simply take a look under your sink
0:34:21 > 0:34:23and just have a look at the colour of the pipes.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25Lead pipes tend to be a kind of dull grey colour,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29as opposed to these, which are the bright orange copper.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32If you are in any way unsure, simply ring your water company
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and they'll be able to come out and test your water for free.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38And if you do have lead water pipes, the advice on making
0:34:38 > 0:34:41sure that the water is OK to drink couldn't be simpler.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44If it turns out you have got lead pipes, then you might like to talk
0:34:44 > 0:34:47to your local water company about getting your pipework replaced.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50In the interim, there's a very simple thing you can do, which is -
0:34:50 > 0:34:53if the water's been sat in the pipework, for example overnight,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56simply run it for a few moments before you use it.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Now, imagine this.
0:35:03 > 0:35:04You're just tucking into your lunch
0:35:04 > 0:35:07when you manage to drop some of it onto the floor.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11So, what do you do now? Just pick it up, dust it off and eat it?
0:35:11 > 0:35:14Or, for fear of any germs it might have picked up,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16do you just chuck it in the bin?
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Well, it seems most of us think that a few seconds on the floor
0:35:19 > 0:35:21isn't really enough to make us throw food away.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24In fact, some of us follow what's called the three-second,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27or sometimes the five-second rule,
0:35:27 > 0:35:28and that, as the name suggests,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32is the time within which we think it's OK to pick up food and eat it.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35But is there any science behind that?
0:35:35 > 0:35:38Well, I've been to a food hygiene lab to find out.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43A whopping 87% of people who took
0:35:43 > 0:35:46part in research by Aston University said that,
0:35:46 > 0:35:50if they dropped their food, they do still pick it up and eat it.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55And if there's one group in particular who'd cheerfully
0:35:55 > 0:35:57admit to that, if they could only articulate it
0:35:57 > 0:36:00for themselves, of course, it's this lot.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07But some of their more hygiene-aware parents may have rather
0:36:07 > 0:36:09different ideas.
0:36:09 > 0:36:14- Your young man here is thoroughly enjoying his lollipop.- He is.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19If he was to drop it on the floor, what would you do about
0:36:19 > 0:36:23whether you'd decide to pick it up, or...give it back to him or what?
0:36:23 > 0:36:27I would throw it in the bin. Don't like dirt and germs.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30So I'd tell him, "Sorry, your thing's in the bin," and I'd always have a spare.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32If it's somewhere where it's really clean.
0:36:32 > 0:36:37And is there a sort of time limit involved in your mind or not?
0:36:37 > 0:36:42Erm... Three seconds? Five seconds? Something like that. A short amount of time.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46Have you heard of the three-second and five-second rule?
0:36:46 > 0:36:50- Yes.- And what's your understanding about it?
0:36:50 > 0:36:53If you drop something, it must be picked up within five seconds.
0:36:53 > 0:36:54Because?
0:36:55 > 0:36:58Because of the bacteria, the germs,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02infection and...various other things that can pass on.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06The majority of the parents and grandparents I met said they would
0:37:06 > 0:37:09pick up food that's been dropped onto the floor, although in most
0:37:09 > 0:37:13cases that really does depend on how long it's been there.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15But is there any genuine scientific
0:37:15 > 0:37:17basis to the old three-second rule?
0:37:17 > 0:37:18Well, to find out
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and see just how quickly germs can get onto our food,
0:37:21 > 0:37:26I've come to meet microbiologist Anthony Hilton at Aston University.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30So, Anthony, three seconds or five seconds?
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Well, there's quite a regional variation as to
0:37:33 > 0:37:36whether it's three seconds or five seconds, or even if people add other
0:37:36 > 0:37:40little bits like blowing on it, or even blessing it, I've heard, as well.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42It really depends on what you drop
0:37:42 > 0:37:46and where you drop it as to what the potential risks might be.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51In 2014, Anthony and his team put the three-second rule through
0:37:51 > 0:37:55some rigorous lab tests to see whether it stands up to scrutiny.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00His team dropped foods with different textures, sticky or dry,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05onto floors that were contaminated with up to 25 million samples
0:38:05 > 0:38:09of E. coli and staphylococcus aureus, both of which can cause
0:38:09 > 0:38:11diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15They compared the results from three different types of floor -
0:38:15 > 0:38:18carpet, laminate and tiled.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Anthony's team found dry foods picked up only a minuscule
0:38:21 > 0:38:23fraction of the germs.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Well, transfer onto toast and onto biscuits was practically negligible.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33We're talking 50 bacteria went over, which is a fraction of a percent of the transfer.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Sticky foods didn't fare quite as well.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41As you might expect, there was slightly more, but even then it wasn't very significant.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43It's probably about 1,000 bacteria.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46The floors in these tests were contaminated with a lot more
0:38:46 > 0:38:49bacteria than you'd find in the average kitchen,
0:38:49 > 0:38:54and, overall, even the stickiest foods didn't pick up enough
0:38:54 > 0:38:56to create a likely risk to health.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59But the results did vary depending on what type of floor
0:38:59 > 0:39:01the food was dropped onto.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05When we dropped food onto laminate floor or onto tiled floor,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07the longer it was on there the more bacteria it picked up.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09On carpet it didn't.
0:39:09 > 0:39:10I suppose if you imagine that,
0:39:10 > 0:39:14because of the carpet fibres you've got here and the food is
0:39:14 > 0:39:17on there, it doesn't have that same kind of additional contact point.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20It's standing up on the fibres.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23So the actual transfer onto carpet was negligible.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26But the real question, of course, is whether three,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29five or any number of seconds makes any difference to the
0:39:29 > 0:39:34level of bacteria on the food, however negligible that may be.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37In some cases, Anthony thinks it does.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41The food picks up bacteria upon impact. We can't influence that.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43So this interpretation that picking it up quickly means that the
0:39:43 > 0:39:46food is going to be completely clean is wrong.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50But what we found with moist foods, like the sticky sweet,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53is that the longer you leave them, the more bacteria they pick up.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56So if you're minded to pick it up more quickly,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58you're actually picking up fewer bacteria.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02So there is... In other words, we should all be practising our knee-bends, shouldn't we?
0:40:02 > 0:40:06- Absolutely. The quicker you can get down...- Getting down there...- If it's a soft food,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09the quicker you can pick it up, the less likely it is to contain bacteria.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11So Anthony's team discovered that
0:40:11 > 0:40:13when sticky foods like pasta
0:40:13 > 0:40:14were dropped onto hard surfaces,
0:40:14 > 0:40:18not only were they likely to pick up more bacteria on impact,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21the longer they spent on the hard floor, the greater
0:40:21 > 0:40:23the number of additional germs that they picked up.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26So time was an important factor.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28But sticky foods on carpets
0:40:28 > 0:40:30picked up very few bacteria,
0:40:30 > 0:40:31and dry foods dropped
0:40:31 > 0:40:34onto either hard surfaces or carpets
0:40:34 > 0:40:36picked up hardly any germs at all,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38no matter how much time they spent there.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42But whether you follow the three-second rule or not,
0:40:42 > 0:40:45there are some places where common sense should help you decide
0:40:45 > 0:40:48whether that dropped food really is worth eating.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51If you're in an outside environment or you're
0:40:51 > 0:40:54standing in the toilet at the time, my advice is don't eat anything.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56If you drop it, then let it go and it's gone.
0:40:56 > 0:40:57If you're in your own home
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and you are aware of the hygiene status of that environment,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03so that you know you've cleaned regularly, and you drop
0:41:03 > 0:41:07a piece of toast on the floor, I would just pick it up and eat it.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09Or if you have a child that is wandering around with
0:41:09 > 0:41:12a piece of toast and you see them drop it,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14I wouldn't get overly anxious about taking it off them,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17because at the end of the day the transfer from indoor
0:41:17 > 0:41:21surfaces onto dry foods like toast is negligible.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The amount of bacteria in people's homes that could cause harm is negligible.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28Taking those two together, I think it's probably OK.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32But of course, if you have animals in your house,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34then it's always best to throw all dropped foods
0:41:34 > 0:41:39straight in the bin, unless your pet gets there first, that is.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43So, armed with Anthony's advice, it's time to test my own resolve.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47So, Tony, I've got a nice, dry ginger biscuit here.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50I'm going to drop it on the floor, and...
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- you're going to see how long it takes before my nerve breaks, basically.- OK.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55- OK.- Off you go.- Here we go.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00Well, I finally picked it up, not after three or five, but 60 seconds,
0:42:00 > 0:42:04because, basically, by that point I couldn't resist it any longer.
0:42:04 > 0:42:05Mmmmmm.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07- Absolutely delicious.- Oh, dear.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11- You want one? - No, thank you, I'm fine.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Well, as we've seen, concerns over food safety can take many, many forms.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22It could be a major scare or a worry in your own neighbourhood,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25or it might be fears over the amount of something that we eat
0:42:25 > 0:42:27too much of, for example like sugar.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30Or it might simply be fretting about whether it's OK to pick
0:42:30 > 0:42:32something up from the floor.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36Although I have to say that doesn't seem to bother my friend too much, does it, Julia?
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Well, I'd like to say that all that dirt has made me
0:42:39 > 0:42:40the woman I am today.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43But seriously, as I saw in the lab,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46it does rather depend on what you drop on what kind of surface.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50So even I've got to admit there are some things I would draw the line at.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53- Glad to hear it.- Just a few.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55You can find more information on the stories we've been
0:42:55 > 0:42:58investigating throughout the series on our website.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05Or you can share your own tips and advice on our Facebook page.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07But I'm afraid that's all that we've got time for today,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10so if you have got something that you would like us
0:43:10 > 0:43:12to look into on your behalf -
0:43:12 > 0:43:15food-related or anything else, really - then please do let us know,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17because we really do appreciate every e-mail
0:43:17 > 0:43:19and letter that you send.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22And we will be back to investigate more of the things that you
0:43:22 > 0:43:24have asked us to look into very soon.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26But until then, from all of the team,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28thanks very much for watching us. Bye-bye.
0:43:28 > 0:43:29- Bye-Bye.- Goodbye.