Episode 5 Rip Off Britain

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

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

I think they encourage you to buy more than you need

and that causes a lot of waste.

Whether you're staying in or going out,

you've told us you can feel ripped off

by the promises made for what you eat

-and what you pay for it.

-How do you know that it's half price?

What they've done, they've bumped the price up

and then knocked it down.

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 a very warm welcome to Rip-Off Britain

and our specialist series,

getting our teeth into all sorts of things to do with food.

Today, we'll be investigating some of the favourites

in our cupboards and fridges - foods that most of us,

let's face it have grown up with and that, in some cases,

really are synonymous with Britain.

But we're going to be asking

if they're still synonymous with quality

and, indeed, whether or not they still offer

good old-fashioned value for money

because you've been telling us that the cost of some of those favourites

seems to have gone up rather more than perhaps it should.

So, we're going to see if that is really the case,

and, if so, why that is.

In some cases, of course,

it may be worth splashing out the extra money.

On the other hand, it could be that a cheaper option is just as good.

So, as ever, while we try to find out

whether you really DO get what you pay for

and if it even matters where it comes from,

we'll have plenty of tips and advice

to make sure you know exactly what you're getting for your money.

Coming up, the supermarket milk raising money for dairy farmers,

but not all of it goes to the ones that you might think.

When I first saw the labelling,

it stated that 23p per four pints was going back

to what I would assume was UK dairy farmers,

cos it represented a Union Jack on the label.

That's why we thought it was a good idea to pay the extra money.

And the best-selling lagers

whose ads go big on the countries they apparently come from,

so does it matter if, in fact, they're brewed a lot closer to home?

It is a bit misleading

if you're getting beers from foreign countries and we're brewing it here.

It's not really coming from a foreign country, is it?

A food story that's dominated the headlines in recent years

is how much dairy farmers are paid by the big supermarkets

for the milk that they sell them.

It's a tricky issue for consumers

because while we might want the price that we pay to stay low,

what we don't want is for that to be at the expense of the people

whose livelihood depends on actually producing it, which, of course,

is exactly what the industry says has been happening,

with some farmers squeezed out of business altogether.

While the issue remains a pretty hot potato,

one big-name store has come up with a solution

that does seem to offer shoppers a real choice on this.

But is it all that it seems? Well, that's the question

that one Rip-Off Britain viewer has asked us to look into.

The days when most of us

had our milk delivered to our doorstep are long gone.

Two semi-skinned, one silver top, number 18.

And though milk consumption is up,

the dairy farming industry is in crisis.

Since the year 2000,

over half of the UK's dairy farmers have gone out of business

and many say that that's because it costs them more to produce the milk

than the amount that they get back when they sell it.

And one of the reasons sometimes cited for this

is the competitive pricing of the supermarkets,

who've been accused of milking the industry dry.

-NEWS REPORT:

-Supermarkets say their pricing deals are fair

but farmers say that they are paid less

for milk than it costs to produce.

All of this is news that bothered Malcolm Frances from Redditch.

He wants to make sure that more of his cash

ends up in the pockets of the farmers,

rather than the hands of the retailers.

So, when he heard about one of a number of supermarket schemes

that claimed to give farmers a better deal,

he was keen to find out more.

I first saw the Morrisons Milk For Farmers on television,

that they were going to bring it out.

Morrisons supermarket says it's introducing a special brand of milk

with 10p from every litre going to farmers which supply it.

And then a couple of weeks later, we actually found it

in our supermarket and that's how we started buying it.

The Milk For Farmers scheme offers customers the option

of paying a few pence more for their milk,

with the extra money going straight back to the producers.

And this is the milk in question -

a four-pint bottle of milk costing £1.12,

which is exactly 23p more than this exact same bottle,

four pints of milk, British milk, costing 89p.

But that's because... Look at the label.

It says, "We give 23p back to the farmer."

Which means the choice is yours. You can buy this four-pint bottle

and feel really good about yourself because you know that 23p

is going back to the hard-pressed dairy farmers.

But which ones?

When I first saw the labelling, it stated that 23p per four pints

was going back to what I would assume was UK dairy farmers,

cos it represented a Union Jack on the label.

That's why we thought it was a good idea to pay the extra money.

But Malcolm is concerned that the extra money

that he's chosen to pay for his milk isn't going to where he'd assumed -

to the UK dairy farmers who produced it.

The label, which says, "We give back to the farmer",

it doesn't say which farmers.

Although there's a Union Jack on here,

specifying that it's British milk,

it doesn't tell you which British farmers it goes back to.

So, where does the extra money go?

Well, the 23p added to the price of milk Malcolm bought at Morrisons

firstly goes to the UK's largest dairy company, Arla,

who distributes the milk

that they get from 12,700 dairy farms right across Europe.

The money raised from the milk sales are then split

between all of those farms and not just the 3,000 or so in the UK.

That's left Malcolm feeling like the scheme isn't quite as good

for British farmers as he first thought.

So much so, that he's now considering

not buying the milk altogether

and that's what prompted him to write to us.

I'd like to see the farmers get a fair price.

At the moment, some farmers are getting a fair price

and some are virtually on the breadline.

Malcolm is in good company

in his desire to support British dairy farmers.

In fact, a recent survey suggested that half of all shoppers asked

would be willing to pay more for their milk

if it meant that the extra went to the farmers.

So, in principle,

the Milk For Farmers scheme should be right up his street,

but now that he knows that the extra money raised

isn't going solely to British farmers,

is Malcolm right in considering

that the Union flag on the bottle is slightly misleading?

So, we decided to put this labelling to the test

and ask the shoppers, here in Peterborough,

who they think gets this 23p.

Once they've guessed,

I'll ask them to put a sweetie in the corresponding milk bottle

for either the EU or Great Britain.

Can I ask you both to take a look at this?

"23p we give back to the farmer."

Now, looking at that label, who do you reckon gets that 23p?

-It should be OUR farmers, the British farmers, I think.

-Yes.

Yeah, with the Union Jack, "British Farmers" logo, yes.

-I would guess British farmers.

-British farmers.

I would say British because you've got the Union Jack.

And the "British" up there,

so you'd say the British farmers, wouldn't you?

I would say British and European,

because it just says, "We give back to the farmer",

so I would just presume straightaway

that would be both European and British

because it doesn't actually say, "British".

-British farmers.

-British farmers? Why do you think that?

Cos it's got the British flag on it.

Got the British flag on it. British milk bottle. There we go.

-It's got a Union Jack on it.

-It has got a Union Jack, hasn't it?

If you were to pick that up,

you'd say it went back to the British farmers.

Only part of it goes to British farmers.

It goes to farmers in Europe, including British farmers.

-It's misleading.

-It's misleading?

Yeah, I think it should have the EU flag, in that case, not our flag.

-Do you think that's fair?

-No, definitely not.

-Where should it go?

-To the British farmers.

It makes it out like it's going to the British.

"We give 100% back to the farmer" and "British whole milk",

so it should be "European whole milk".

It's misleading cos of the flag.

Because it's just got that flag on,

-you'd assume it's just going to...

-To the British.

-Yeah.

Out of the 31 people we asked,

only seven thought that the extra money would be likely

to benefit farmers outside the UK.

The rest, like Malcolm, assumed it wouldn't go beyond our own shores.

I have to admit I'm not that surprised

that there were more shoppers, here in Peterborough,

that assumed that that 23p was going to British dairy farmers,

as opposed to the EU.

I was a bit confused to start with myself.

But, you know, nobody wants to knock an initiative

that's aimed at helping hard-pressed dairy farmers,

but I think our little straw poll demonstrates

that really that labelling could be a bit clearer.

But aside from the labelling, does the scheme benefit farmers

in the way that Malcolm had initially hoped?

Jonathan Ovens' family has owned this dairy farm,

here in Wiltshire, for over 150 years.

Come on then. Up you go. Come on.

Jonathan supplies milk to Arla, so directly benefits

from the extra 23p charged at supermarket Morrisons.

He's keen to show Malcolm round his farm and provide reassurance

that whatever confusion there might be, it IS a good idea.

-Hi, Jonathan.

-Hello, Malcolm. Jonathan Ovens, pleased to meet you.

COW MOOS

It's now milking time, Malcolm,

and as you can see, that cow, she's currently produced 7.4 litres

and I guess she's probably going to give about 16 litres this evening.

The extra money raised from the Morrisons milk

won't make the difference as to whether or not a farm

stays in business but, for Jonathan, every penny counts.

The milk the cow produces, how much would that be worth to you?

Well, this cow here is going to give me about 40 litres in total today,

so the value of that 40 litres from both milkings

is going to be about £10.

And, obviously, with Morrisons' initiative

on paying the extra money for milk,

that's helping my milk price and increasing the value of the milk

that this cow has produced for me today.

The Morrisons scheme was launched in September, 2015,

and is expected to raise £4.5 million in its first year.

But when you split that between all of Arla's dairy farms

right across Europe, it works out at about £354.33 per farm.

Not a huge amount.

But Jonathan is confident that,

with similar initiatives in other European countries

also bringing money into the British farmers' pockets, it does all help.

And, while Malcolm can see that it is a step in the right direction,

he remains disgruntled

that the money isn't ALL going where he thought it was.

Seeing the Union Jack on the label, I presumed that all the 23p

-was going to go to all the UK dairy farmers.

-No, it doesn't.

The Union Jack on the label signifies that it's British milk

that the consumer's buying because we know the British consumer

wants to be assured that it's British milk that they're buying.

If I was to stop buying that extra 23p for four pints,

would it have an effect on the milk price?

Yes, I would get less for my milk as a result of you stopping buying it.

What Morrisons have done is they've enabled you, the consumer,

to make the conscious choice to pay that extra 23p for the milk

and I believe you've done it in the knowledge

that us, the farmers, are going to get that 23p.

At the end of the day, it's all down to my choice.

It's your choice and I would encourage you

to continue to buy that milk

because you're helping me, as a dairy farmer, directly.

We asked Morrisons whether the labelling

on its Milk For Farmers bottles is as clear as it could be

and the store told us that, following feedback from customers,

from early 2016, it has started to roll out

new labelling on these products.

It said the Union flag is still there because, Morrisons says,

it represents the fact that the milk is British, but in addition,

more information about how the Arla scheme works has now been added.

Of course, Morrisons isn't the only supermarket

to have introduced some sort of scheme

through which they can claim to support dairy farmers.

Asda told us that, under a long-term contract,

its own-brand milk is also supplied by Arla

and it bears Arla's "Farmer Owned" mark,

which means that all earnings go back to farmers.

M&S, Sainsbury's, the Co-op and Tesco all said

that under their own schemes, they pay farmers fixed amounts

that are not linked to volatile retail prices.

M&S has been doing this for 16 years

under its Milk Pledge Plus programme.

It links the prices it pays to its 40-strong pool of farmers

to the costs that THEY pay for production.

As does Tesco, which told us that, since 2007,

it has worked with farmers in its Sustainable Dairy Group,

to set the price it pays them for its own-brand milk

higher than the costs of production.

Tesco says this means its British suppliers are paid...

Sainsbury's said it reviews the set price it pays

the 290 farmers supplying its own-brand milk every three months,

working in collaboration with its Dairy Development Group.

Sainsbury's told us that these farmers make a profit

from every pint of milk sold.

Meanwhile, the Co-op and Waitrose both told us that they, too, work

in collaboration with farmers to set a fair price for their milk

and that these prices are reviewed regularly.

But while all that paints a very rosy picture,

it's only a matter of months since protests from the dairy industry,

which saw farmers herding cattle through supermarkets,

led to the big names agreeing

to increase the amount that they pay for milk

and though that was welcomed by the National Farmers Union,

it still claimed that some stores continue to pay

less than the milk cost to produce.

As for Malcolm,

seeing how farmers like Jonathan can benefit from the Morrisons scheme,

has restored his faith in it and he's now started paying

that little bit extra for milk once again.

Jonathan made me really understand about the running of the farms,

of producing that extra pint to go on everybody's table,

and if he can't make a profit, then his business will suffer

so, therefore, what Morrisons have done to help them is a good idea.

I will still buy it, hoping it will make a difference.

Nearly eight billion pints of lager were consumed in Britain

just last year alone and, while most of it is very heavily marketed

as coming from overseas, in reality it's much more likely

to come from somewhere much closer to home.

So, if a beer is sold as being European,

Asian, American, Australian

or even if it has a label in a foreign language,

does it actually matter if it's brewed

in, say, Manchester or Northampton?

We hit the town to find out how much drinkers really know

about where their favourite tipple comes from

and whether their enthusiasm goes a little bit flat

when they find out that what they thought was a bit exotic

actually has just benefitted from some very effective marketing.

Wine may have now overtaken beer

as Britain's most popular alcoholic drink,

but the good old pint is enjoying a revival.

Traditional British ales are back in fashion

but lager is still the beer that Brits buy the most.

And many of the best-selling brands are those we associate

with either Continental Europe or even further afield

and that's thanks

to multimillion-pound marketing campaigns

that champion their national heritage.

You little ripper.

Most foreign lagers are synonymous with their country of origin,

so much so, that when we asked punters at this Manchester pub

to guess the country of origin for these particular brews,

most of them were right every time.

Kronenbourg's French. France.

Is it German beer?

I would associate Becks with Germany.

Cobra beer's associated with India.

Australia, obviously.

-San Miguel is associated with Spain.

-Spain.

Stella is from Belgium.

Full marks. But the reality behind those slick marketing campaigns

is a little different because, despite what you might think,

90% of the UK's consumption of these apparently foreign brands

is actually brewed right here in the UK.

Take Foster's, for example, one of Britain's best-selling beers.

One of its ads claimed the name was "Australian for lager".

In 1888, William and Ralph Foster gave Australia

its first taste of true refreshment.

Based on the adverts, I'd definitely say Australia.

In fact, the amber nectar in most of the UK's cans of Foster's

is actually made, not Down Under, but in Manchester.

And what's more synonymous with India than a bottle of Cobra?

Cobra - splendidly Indian, superbly smooth.

-I associate Cobra with India.

-Just need a curry now.

But most UK Cobras are brewed miles away from India,

in fact, in Burton upon Trent.

Next, a beer that conjures up sun, sand and the Spanish Costas -

San Miguel.

San Miguel. Now, that's a beer with an amazing story.

I associate this beer with Spain.

But most of the San Miguel you'll drink here in the UK

is brewed in the not-so-hot Northampton.

Take a good look and you'll see

that these all these bottles do have a clear disclaimer,

saying that they are, indeed, brewed in the UK.

That message flashes up in the ads as well.

But drink connoisseurs, like Jamie Goode,

believe that the marketing of such lagers

can be misleading to British drinkers,

who may be tempted to pay more for these so-called foreign brands.

I think we Brits quite like foreign things.

We find them interesting and, when it comes to beer,

I think the Brits, generally speaking,

are prepared to pay more for beers that are foreign,

that come from somewhere else, with a nice image associated with them.

If you go into a pub, you'll see some of the most expensive lagers

are the ones that are from other countries.

Marketing of beer is interesting

because it's not really about the flavour of the beer.

That's not what the advertisers are pushing.

They're trying to sell us the emotion, sell us the dream,

and that's where foreign beers come in because they're selling us,

not only the fact that this is a nice, tasty beer,

they're selling us this exotic element

that comes from the fact that this comes from somewhere else

and there's something of the place in the flavour of the beer.

So, after our pubgoers had been so definite

about where they thought these lagers came from,

how did they react when we revealed where they're really brewed?

It's a Spanish beer, so I'd expect it to be brought over from Spain.

It is a bit misleading if you're getting beers

from foreign countries and we're brewing it here.

It's not really coming from a foreign country, is it?

If it tastes good, I don't think it should matter,

but I don't think they should rip you off for drinking import beer

when it's not import beer.

It is misleading, isn't it?

It shouldn't be brewed in Manchester when it's from Australia,

supposedly, you know.

I can't imagine the Aussies drinking that, myself.

I don't mind where it's brewed as long as it was brewed

to the same recipe as the country that it comes from.

So, while some drinkers did feel they were being misled,

others simply don't care where their lagers are brewed,

as long as it all tastes nice.

And that's a view the Advertising Standards Authority took

over this 2014 ad from Kronenbourg.

Featuring the former French

and Manchester United football legend Eric Cantona,

it plays on the whole idea that the lager embodies the French spirit.

Here, in Alsace, things are a little bit different.

The hop farmers are treated like the footballers of Britain.

They are idolised and adored and why not?

They are living legends.

So, there you go.

A complaint was made that the ad was misleading

because it suggested the beer was brewed in France

when, in actual fact, it was in Manchester.

While, initially, it seemed the regulator would take the same view,

ultimately it changed its mind and said that the ad was fine

because its focus was on the hops used to produce the beer,

which were sourced in France, rather than the brewing process itself.

But, in the end, does it really matter where the beer is made?

Some lager fans may argue

that drinks brewed abroad do taste better...

..and independent brewer, Glenn Jones,

who runs the Dunscar Brewery in Manchester,

believes there is some truth in that, because the varying taste

of local water can affect the taste of the final product.

For that reason, he believes the marketing, not just the labels,

should properly reflect where the product is actually brewed.

The place where a brewery is located can have a huge effect

on the types of beer that it produces

or the types of beer that it can produce well.

For example, in this area, we have very soft, very high-quality water.

We're blessed with water that comes from the Lake District

or from even closer, on the North Pennine Moors.

It's very soft and very suitable for a range of beers.

In Burton on Trent, for example, you have water that's ideal

for lighter-coloured, almost sweeter beers.

If you went to Aberdeen or to Dublin, for example,

you'd get water that was ideal for darker stouts.

And that can very much dictate the kind of beer that you make.

So, the thinking goes that local water may similarly affect

the taste of lagers as well

and Graham's not convinced that attempts to tackle that

will ever be completely successful.

So, if you were trying to emulate the flavour of a beer

from Continental Europe - that could be a lager or a pilsner lager,

for example, which could be brewed in Germany, in Munich,

down through Austria or Czechoslovakia,

where these great lager beers are produced,

it's possible, but it involves an awful lot of chemistry

to try to copy the water in those areas.

It will add to the cost considerably

and you'll never get it exactly right

because water quality varies day to day.

Meanwhile, a British brewer found himself criticised

for exactly the same thing as all those lagers.

Sharp's Doom Bar was accused of overegging its Cornish heritage,

with no less than seven proud references to Cornwall on its label,

when it was actually brewed in Burton upon Trent,

almost 300 miles away.

The beer's manufacturer told us

that it shifted production of its bottled Doom Bar

to meet unprecedented demand.

It said the beer's Cornish roots are still referenced on the bottle

to represent its home and heritage

and stressed that all of Doom Bar's cask beer,

making up 80% of its production,

is still brewed and packaged in Rock in Cornwall.

We also spoke to the brewers of all those lagers

commonly associated with more far-flung lands.

All said they are proud to brew their beers in the UK,

while reiterating that they don't make any secret of this fact

on their labels.

Heineken UK, which makes Foster's and Kronenbourg's 1664, told us

that brewing in Britain provides employment to thousands of people

and contributes millions of pounds to the economy,

while very reasonably pointing out that...

The companies all emphasized that the heritage of their beers

is firmly rooted in the countries they're associated with,

with many of them still using the same recipes or even ingredients

as they were when they were first brewed.

Foster's, for example, still uses the same Australian yeast.

But, for Jamie, it's all about transparency for the customer

and he reckons that the growth in popularity

of traditional British ales is a sign

that the novelty of those not-quite-so-foreign lagers

may be starting to fade.

I would urge the big brewers to make it clearer

which beers are actually imported

and which beers are produced under licence here in the UK.

One of the great things this resurgence of interest

in British beer has done,

is it means that people are moving away

from this conspicuous consumption,

this "I've got this posh foreign lager in my glass

"that doesn't actually taste particularly different

"or particularly foreign", and then moving towards,

"Actually, I've got an authentic product in my glass

"that tastes interesting and is something we can be proud of."

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, frying tonight.

But has the cost of traditional fish and chips

risen faster than it should?

Put the fish straight into the batter. Just pop it in there.

I can feel fish and chip people laughing up and down the country.

We're talking today about food

either made or associated with the UK.

But if you're heading abroad, it's all too easy to get it wrong

when seeking out authentic local tastes.

Things we take for granted at home can suddenly become major faux pas.

So, we asked travel writer Simon Calder for advice

on how to avoid falling foul

of the customs of the country you're visiting,

starting in a destination not too far away from home.

No sooner are you across the Channel than the tricky etiquette begins.

You're in a fancy French restaurant

and the waiter brings you some bread. Merci, monsieur.

Whatever you do, don't start cutting it up with a knife.

Pull it apart and don't start nibbling before the food arrives.

The French are taught from childhood that it spoils the appetite.

And if you're venturing further afield,

watch how you behave at the table.

I think the freshest, most delicious food in the world

is probably in Japan.

But you have to be very careful with your manners,

particularly when it comes to chopsticks

or hashi, as they're known.

Never cross your chopsticks on the table or a plate.

Don't wave them around in the same way

that you might do to make a point when you've got a fork in your hand.

And certainly don't use them to spear your food.

Pick it up daintily with your chopsticks instead.

Ah, tasty and cheap.

No, not me - a lovely bowl of Japanese noodles.

Best of all, if you make slurping noises when you're eating them,

it's not considered rude, it's a good thing.

It means you're really appreciating them.

HE SLURPS

Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

Delicious. Make sure you've done your research

so that you don't accidentally cause offence.

During Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting,

Muslims are expected not to eat or drink during the hours of daylight.

If you're travelling to an Islamic country

and you're not a Muslim, then you need to do some planning.

You can ask around for tourist restaurants which might be open

or, perhaps a better plan, source some supplies from the local market,

but don't eat in public.

It would be considered, at the very least, impolite.

Oh, and if you're one of the dwindling band of smokers,

be aware that Ramadan also means no smoking during the day.

Finally, a tip that only Simon could come up with.

In Russia, one or two evenings

could see you getting involved in a vodka-drinking session

where the tradition is that every single shot

needs to be downed in one go. Na zdorovie.

Now, this isn't necessarily good for your health.

Nyet, spasiba. No, thank you.

The best way to avoid problems is to tell everybody,

"Ya alkogolik", "I'm an alcoholic".

Might sound extreme but it works.

What's your favourite food? Well, among us Brits,

curries and roast chicken come pretty high on the list

and so, of course, does fish and chips.

In fact, would you believe that every year,

we spend more than £1 billion on satisfying our appetite for them.

And though the fish and chips may not have changed too much

over the years, what you pay for them may well have done.

And that's what our next viewer wrote to us about.

He's been buying fish and chips for over 40 years

and he wants to know why,

when his meal is almost identical to the one he bought decades ago,

he's now paying so much more for the privilege of eating it.

Fish and chips consumption is on the rise

and while it's still a long way short of its First World War heyday,

we now eat some 382 million portions every year.

That's about six servings

for every man, woman and child in the country.

But, as the popularity of fish and chips has shot up,

has its price gone the same way?

Well, that's certainly the suspicion of Rip-Off Britain viewer

and dedicated fish-and-chipper John Spicer from Bodmin.

John said that in 1960, he remembers

a fish and chip supper cost one and sixpence.

I'd love to be able to say I'm far too young

to remember what that means but, in fact, I know

it works out at about £1.54 in today's money

and you don't need me to tell you that these days,

you're likely to have to pay a whole lot more than that

for your fish and chips.

John pays between £6 and £8 for his fish and chips

and says he'd like to know why. It seems to him

the cost has risen four times more than the rate of inflation.

So, is he right that the price of fish and chips,

still the UK's favourite dish, has gone up more than it should?

A good place to start

is by asking one of the UK's biggest fish and chips suppliers.

VA Whitley has been a family business for well over 100 years.

Its founder's grandson, Tony Rogers, is now the company's chairman.

But it's clear this isn't a question with a simple answer.

So, Tony, what affects the cost of fish and chips?

Well, it's, basically, down to supply and demand.

For example, in the restaurant world,

there's been a heck of a run on sea bass,

so sea bass has been overcaught and now it's getting fairly short

and, as a consequence, more expensive.

Obviously, you have to pass your own costs on to your customers

-who are the fish and chip shops.

-Yes.

So, once the suppliers' prices go up,

that increase is passed on to the individual shops

and to find out what determines

the price you and I then pay over the counter,

Tony and his son, Chris, are dropping me off

at the one of the outlets they deliver to.

-How many fish and chip shops do you supply?

-Around 2,000.

Wow, that's a lot! And is that all in this area?

No, we're spread all around the wider northwest

and northern half of Wales.

The Bridge restaurant is in Norden, Greater Manchester,

where a standard fish and chips is £4.90.

It's the owner, Tom, who has to deal with all the fluctuations

in those wholesale costs and he's got a surprising way of doing it.

So, Tom, tell me what goes into the pricing of fish and chips?

We buy our fish in fresh

so, obviously, that's dependent on the market prices.

Obviously, potatoes, they range in price quite a lot,

so it's just a case of what the market predicts.

We try and set our prices

so we're not raising them and lowering them throughout the year.

I don't understand how that works, though,

because if the cost of the individual commodities

are going up and down, how do you manage to keep your prices level?

It's very tough.

Sometimes we're not making a great deal of money on the product,

other times we're making a living out of it.

It's just dependent on, like I say, what the market predictions are.

A good example of how costs to a business like this can vary

is with cod.

Up until 2015, it was on the Marine Conservation Society's

endangered list of fish.

But now, its numbers are back up, as is our appetite for it

and if there's plenty more fish in the sea, that's good news for Tom.

If there's more fish available, obviously, the price comes down.

-And is that reflected in your prices then?

-Not necessarily, no,

because we need to forecast whether the price is going up as well,

so we need to set a constant price

where it's fair to the customers and fair to ourselves.

But as well as the changing costs of the ingredients,

what else bumps up the bill in our chippies?

One thing harder to price is the skill and time it takes

to prepare the food they serve.

Though these guys make it look easy, let me tell you, it's anything but.

I'll show you how to do fish and chips the Northern way.

-Oh, I can't wait. This is a sleeves-rolled-up job.

-Yeah.

What I'd like you to do is take this lovely piece of fish,

pop it in the flour here. Coat both sides.

-Am I doing it the right way?

-You certainly are. Natural already.

This flicking thing. I have watched them doing it.

-That's plenty of flour on there.

-OK.

If we turn around, keep hold of the fish,

you don't want to be dropping it.

Put the fish straight into the batter. Just pop it in there.

So, if you grab the tail again, turn it over the other side.

You're coating both sides with the batter.

I can feel fish and chip people laughing

-up and down the country, watching this.

-No, it takes time to learn.

-Pick it up by the tail.

-Yeah.

Use one hand, turn the fish the other way round now.

Scrape just a little bit of excess batter off the fish. That's perfect.

-I've seen that.

-That's plenty. Then we'll pop this in now.

Belly down, like this way,

and sort of flick it towards the back of the pan. That's it.

-Nearly. Nearly killed us.

-I'm spraying a lot of batter around.

-Does that matter?

-That's part of the job.

-Oh, is it? OK.

When I come home, my wife often comments

that I look like a painter and decorator.

-Cos it's all down your trousers?

-Absolutely.

-OK.

Just minutes later,

let's see how my first attempt at frying fish has turned out.

-So, if we take the fish out now.

-Yeah.

If you'd like to give it a quick poke with a finger.

-How does that feel?

-It looks and feels divine.

-Crispy.

Well, now I know the tricks of the trade,

I'm heading five miles down the road to Tompsons chippy in Bury,

where its 85-year-old owner, Jack,

may be able to help answer that question

about whether prices really have risen more than they should.

He's been here since the 1970s,

although his daughter, Caroline, has now taken the business on.

And when it comes to the cost of it,

when did you last put your prices up?

We haven't put our prices up for over five years now.

-That's remarkable.

-Yeah.

Even though the cost of fish

and the cost of potatoes and so on has fluctuated?

I don't think you can keep putting your prices up

cos I think people would get quite disgruntled,

so sometimes you just have to swallow it.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but it's just a fact.

Fish and chips has always been thought of as an affordable treat.

Here, at Tompsons, a standard portion is £4.70

and Jack, who's been frying for the last 40 years,

thinks that, while the prices have gone up,

it's all in line with everything else.

Looking back at the 1970s, when you started out,

what difference have you noticed in the price of fish and chips?

Well, to a person like me, at my age,

I think they've increased quite a lot.

But then when I go for a drink, like a gin and tonic,

I think that's increased quite a lot as well,

and in comparison, I would say that they're very equal.

So, in other words, they've kept pace

-with everything that you could compare them to?

-Yes.

What's more, Jack reckons

these days we're getting a bigger fish for our money.

I'd say the portions now are twice as high as what they were then.

We used to do a 2oz, now they're 4oz or 6oz.

And the chips they give now

are a hell of a lot more than we used to give.

It's not just Jack who'd say that the portion sizes have rocketed.

Supplier Tony agrees.

His own research shows that the average size

of a standard fish was 2.5oz, back in the 1960s,

which he puts down to the hangover from post-war rationing.

Today he says that a portion of fish has increased dramatically

and there's a distinct north-south divide.

In the north, the average size is between 6oz and 8oz.

But in the south, it's 8oz to 12oz.

Either way, according to Tony,

you're getting much more than you would have done in the 1960s,

when the average helping

was more like our mini fish and chips option today.

And in line with many other industries,

developments in technology has meant

that customers' demands for chips can be more easily met too.

Unlike frying fish,

preparing spuds is an area in which I do have some expertise.

Right, I think it's time I tackled some potatoes.

You don't need that! Watch this!

Oh, my goodness! That is unbelievable!

I don't know anyone who can chop as fast as that.

-The perfect chip.

-That is amazing.

So, is it correct that the price of fish

we eat at our chippies has rocketed?

Here at Rip-Off Britain, we tried to work it out.

With so many sizes, prices and outlets across the UK,

pinning down just one average national price

for our fish and chips isn't easy.

But taking everything into account,

some analysts have estimated it to be around £3.30,

rising to £5.50 in London.

The industry itself doesn't have an official figure,

but its own comparisons would probably put the costs

a little higher, with a good deal of regional variation.

Unsurprisingly, they found

the priciest fish and chips were in London,

where a standard cod or haddock and chips

can be as much as £9.90 a portion.

Scotland wasn't far behind, with the most expensive around £9.50,

although in some places, you'd pay only half that.

In Northern Ireland, prices were typically around £6.40

and the cheapest chippies overall were in the Midlands,

where you'd typically pay anything between £4.50 and £6.95.

Now, that's by no means a comprehensive survey

and you'll no doubt know individual places

where you can pick up a portion for more

or, with any luck, less than those industry figures.

But what's interesting is that, once you take a closer look,

they may not show as much of a rise

as John from Bodmin had feared when he wrote to us.

Once you've taken into account those bigger portion sizes

and added on 20% VAT, which wasn't included

in the price of fish and chips before the early 1980s,

the modern equivalent of the one shilling and sixpence

he used to pay works out at around £6.66.

That's not far off the typical prices

I've seen on MY fish deliveries.

And fish and chip shop owner Jack agrees.

So, people who perhaps complain now

-about the price of fish and chips...

-Mmm.

Do you have sympathy with them or do you think they've got it wrong?

I think they've got it wrong.

If you compare with other prices, it's just...

..almost the same.

So, John from Bodmin, I hope what we've found out

has gone some way to answering why it may seem

as if your fish and chips are now much more expensive.

In fact, because your fish are now bigger

and these days, we pay VAT on food,

the amount you're shelling out today is pretty comparable

with what you would have paid if that had been the case back then.

So, John, you are not being ripped off.

And, equally important, the chips still taste just as good.

Mmm, yum.

If you have a story that you'd like us to investigate,

then do get in touch with us via our Facebook page, BBC Rip-Off Britain.

Our website is bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain.

Or you can email us at...

Or, indeed, if you want to send us a letter, our address is...

Well, I don't know about you,

but after watching that report by Julia,

all I can think of is fish and chips.

Well, I can cook them for you now.

-All right, your house tomorrow night then.

-Absolutely.

But if you think that you're paying over the odds for anything,

then do please let us know.

And it's not just problems or questions to do with what you eat

that we want to hear about.

It could be any consumer problem whatsoever.

That's because we've got plenty more Rip-Off Britain programmes

coming up over the next few months,

so it's not just for this series on food

that your emails and letters are our bread and butter.

Any situation that's left you feeling let-down or out of pocket,

just get in touch with us

and, if we can, we'll do our very best to help, won't we?

We really do appreciate all your emails and letters

and we're only sorry that there isn't time

to look into all of them, aren't we?

But remember, you can always find tips and advice on our website.

Even when we're not on the air,

you can join the conversations on our Facebook page.

But we'll see you again very soon with more of your stories,

-so until then, from all of us, goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.