Episode 1 Rip Off Britain

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

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

You think you're getting a bargain and you're not really.

They're just encouraging you to buy more of a product

when you don't need to.

Whether you're staying in or going out, you've told us that you can

feel ripped off by the promises made

by what you eat and what you pay for it.

What really winds me up is the price of so-called healthy food,

compared with the unhealthy stuff.

The unhealthy stuff seems to be so much cheaper.

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

we'll uncover the truth about Britain's food

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

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

Hello and thank you very much for joining us

once again on Rip-Off Britain, where every day this week we're

revealing the secrets of your shopping basket.

getting to the bottom of more of the food stories you've asked us

to investigate.

Today we'll be discovering some pretty surprising things,

about what goes into what we eat and what we get out of it.

For instance, we'll be exposing which food that's found its way

onto the shelves of some of our shops really shouldn't be there.

As well as discovering why a much maligned old faithful could be

every bit as good for you as its more expensive rivals.

Coming up - it's lower in price,

but is concentrated orange juice also

less healthy than its more expensive rivals?

One of you wrote in asking just that so we've done a test to find out.

Well, I tend to avoid the concentrate

because I wonder what's been added and what's been taken away.

Why do they use concentrate and is it any better or worse?

And candy treats with dazzling colours and dangerously high

levels of E colours.

They may be a hit with the kids

but how come illegal sweets are being sold on British high street?

It shouldn't be coming in with those labelling deficiencies.

The problem we have is that if they've got the labelling wrong,

have they got something else wrong as well?

Now, how do you start the day?

Lots of us can't get going until we've had our orange juice.

But which orange juice is better for you?

Is it the cheaper concentrated kind or the more natural-sounding,

less-processed version which can cost a fair bit more?

I guess a lot of us would think that the pricier juice would be tastier

and healthier too.

But when we put that theory to the test, what we discovered was quite a

surprise and one that, over time, could save you an awful lot of money.

Concentrated orange juice has been on our breakfast tables since the 1940s.

Its popularity started to fade when not-from-concentrate

juices came on the market 20 years later.

It still makes up the biggest chunk of the billion litres

of orange juice consumed in the UK every year.

But we found quite a few people who said concentrate wasn't

the juice they preferred.

I usually tend to buy the one with juicy bits.

Personally I prefer non-concentrate.

Well, I think it's vitamins.

-I think it tastes nicer.

-Yeah.

-So it's a taste thing?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

As we've just seen, chilled not-from-concentrate juice is seen

by some people as a cut above the cheaper stuff in long-life cartons.

The packaging is a little smarter and the labels often proudly say

things like 100% squeezed fruit,

pure premium or never ever from concentrate.

So you'd be forgiven for thinking that juice is not only tastier,

but better for you too.

And of course, there's something else that makes them stand out...

There's a real difference in price.

Juice made not-from-concentrate can cost twice as much as juice

from concentrate.

Rip-Off Britain viewer Brian Coote is among those who haven't minded

paying a bit more for their juice because they like the taste better.

Even so, Brian couldn't help wondering

if the extra cost also equalled extra goodness.

So, after being struck by the extraordinary range of juices

now available, he wrote to us.

There were so many different ones on the shelf, there was

fresh squeezed, pure orange juice, orange juice from concentrate,

orange juice drink,

and frankly they were confusing me

and I hadn't the faintest idea what was the best for me.

Brian doesn't generally buy the old faithful made-from-concentrate,

but he's wondering if he should reconsider as it would cost him

so much less than some of the other juices on the market.

I tend to avoid the concentrate

because I wonder what's been added,

what's been taken away,

why do they use concentrate and is it any better or worse?

The ones that claim to be fresh squeezed juice,

you look at the sell-by date,

you might only have a couple of days on it.

You look at the from-concentrate and you could have two weeks on it.

That makes a big difference to me as a pensioner.

So how are the different kinds of juice made?

Home economist Gillian Marchak is going to take us through the basics

of the three types of juice on sale, kicking off with the obvious.

I'm going to start off with freshly squeezed.

Squeezing out all the juice.

'Freshly squeezed only lasts a few days, but it doesn't take much

'to turn it into the type of juice sold as not-from-concentrate.'

I've chilled the juice down so it's about two degrees.

Then I need to heat it up to 98 degrees Celsius.

In other words, I'm going to pasteurise the orange juice.

'It's called flash pasteurisation.

'The juice heated just short of boiling point to kill the bacteria

'and as a result it can last up to three months.

'Concentrate orange juice is heated for a lot longer

'so it lasts longer too.'

It boils until it becomes quite a sticky syrup,

looking a little bit like this.

The concentrated orange juice for easy transportation

and then all you need to do to make it back into orange juice is

to replace the water.

But Brian wants to know what any of these processes might do

for the goodness inside and whether the cheaper concentrated

juice has less of the vital nutrients

that any sort of orange juice contains.

To help him find out, Brian has come to

Manchester Metropolitan University

to meet nutritional scientist, Haleh Moravej.

-Hi, Brian, how are you?

-I'm fine...

We asked Haleh and her team to compare samples of the three

main types of orange juice to see how the way they're made might affect

the nutrients inside.

We've got the freshly squeezed orange juice,

one from concentrate and one not-from-concentrate.

We tested the samples for vitamin C content,

antioxidants and also the sugar content.

First Haleh tested for vitamin C, probably the vitamin

most associated with oranges.

Vitamin C is extremely important,

90% of vitamin C comes from fruit and vegetables.

Vitamin C is important for the immune system, it's great

for the connective tissue and prevents something called scurvy.

What sort of results did you actually get?

We found that in the freshly squeezed orange juice,

per 100 milligrams, it was 45 milligrams of vitamin C.

For the concentrate one, it was 32 milligrams

and for not-from-concentrate it was 27 milligrams per hundred.

There's little wonder that the juice squeezed just before the test

scored highest, but Brian is surprised that the concentrated

juice has more vitamin C than the pricier not-from-concentrate.

The results are a little bit interesting, but I'm very

disappointed about what was supposed

to be an expensive and premium product.

Next up, antioxidants.

They're found in fruit and vegetables

and help stop the body's healthy cells from deteriorating.

Looking at the antioxidants activity of the samples,

you'd expect the fresh one to have the highest, but it was actually

not-from-concentrate that had the highest level of antioxidant.

The final test was for sugar. None of the drinks included any added sugar.

So Haleh's testing for the levels that naturally occur in the oranges.

This is 200mls of freshly squeezed orange cheese.

It contains 15 grams of sugar

per 200mls.

The next one from concentrate

is 16.8 grams of sugar.

The least healthy one with sugar

is 17.2 grams of sugar

for the not-from-concentrate.

So in our test, the premium not-from-concentrate orange juice

contains more naturally occurring sugars than either of the other two.

It also shows slightly less vitamin C but a higher antioxidant count.

None of this is a problem.

But if you're paying extra because you think it's healthier,

well, it doesn't seem that's necessarily the case.

When you put it all together, it seems there's not much between them

when you look at the antioxidants and the sugar content

and the vitamin C content.

So it comes down to personal choice.

Now, we only tested one brand of each different type of juice

and the results in others may vary, but with the average carton

of concentrate juice costing £1 or more or less than its

not-from-concentrate rivals,

it seems that by going for the cheaper option, you could save

yourself a fair bit of money without compromising on the nutrients.

We put our findings to the makers of two of the best known

not-from-concentrate brands of juice,

both of whom stress they regularly test their products

against others on the market,

adding that they have independent scientific evidence which

shows you get a wealth of beneficial vitamins, minerals and antioxidants

from their drinks.

And of course there's still one all-important factor which

just might make it worth shelling out more for a premium juice.

That's the taste.

Let's put it to the test.

I'm in Bury Market in Greater Manchester, where people really

know a thing or two about food.

Their black pudding is famous all over these parts.

I want to find out if people can tell the difference between juice

made from concentrate and non-concentrate.

And...which they prefer.

I'd like you to drink one from each row and tell me what you think.

-Which do you prefer?

-That one.

-You prefer that one?

-Yes.

That's the concentrated one.

That's the expensive one.

Well done. You've passed the test. You're a canny shopper.

What was it about the difference between two of them?

If I'm honest, that had the smoother taste.

The shoppers in Bury didn't have a clear preference,

and liked both kinds of juice.

So again, if you've ever ruled out the cheaper concentrated kind

because you think it won't be as good, perhaps it's worth

giving it another go and saving yourself some cash into the bargain.

That's definitely what Brian is planning to do from now on.

I would tend to buy the one from concentrate,

mainly because of price.

That's going to change in my basic opinion now

since we've seen these good results.

Very good results.

Now take a trip to the shops with children

and amongst all the sweets on display,

there's a sometimes dazzling array of sugary goodies to catch the eye.

Personally I've never been against a sweet treat every now and again.

But the multicoloured ones aren't usually the first I'd buy.

Indeed, the ingredients that create some of those bright, bright

colourings have long been a source of controversy,

so much so that manufacturers have to put warnings on the packets

if particular colourings are used.

But it seems there are some sweets creeping onto the

British shelves that aren't sticking to the rules.

# Red and yellow and pink and green... #

Bright coloured sweets can be the currency of many playgrounds up

and down the country, but although the kids might like them,

their parents, on the other hand, may be less keen to see

their children munching on some of these lovely colourful sweets.

Is there anything in there that you would, as a treat,

give to your child?

Um...

Possibly only the chocolate. But it would be a very special treat.

No chance.

So out of this mixture, what would you give your child as a treat?

-To be honest, none of it.

-None of it, OK.

And reactions like that tend to be for one simple reason...

-The E numbers.

-Quite a lot of E numbers.

There's a huge amount of E numbers, there's a lot of words that

I don't really understand, so that's not sounding brilliant.

The colourings and preservatives which include E numbers that

go into some of the foods aimed at children can cause real

headaches for parents.

Now, all these particular products are absolutely fine

according to the law, but some parents worry about

whether their children's more hyperactive moments could be

caused by the ingredients that give some sweets their vibrant colour.

Colourings are certainly high on the hit list for John Griffin

and his team, who work in one of the ten UK local authority labs,

inspecting food to make sure that they're safe to eat.

Now, John, how long have you been aware of

the effect of colourings, particularly in children?

There was research done in late 2000 as to the effects of colours

on activity and attention in children.

These six particular colours were identified as having

an effect on those particular aspects of children.

Those six colourings,

nicknamed the Southampton Six after the university that carried out the

study, were found to have a direct impact on behaviour in children.

Just take me through them.

There are six here. They're all sort of reds and yellows.

You've got quite a dark red colour,

this is called Ponceau 4R.

This particular colour is a slightly

lighter red and it's called Sunset Yellow, nice name.

And this one?

This is Allura Red, so again another one of the Southampton Six.

Slightly darker red in colour

but quite commonly used in a lot of products.

The Southampton study even claimed that the effect

additives in colours like these can have on a child's behaviour is so

dramatic that banning them could

lead to a 30% reduction in ADHD in children.

The report made headlines and led to many of Britain's supermarkets

and big-name manufacturers

voluntarily taking them out of their sweets entirely

and replacing them with alternative colourings.

But in America, where a fair amount of our confectionery comes from,

the Southampton Six are still routinely being used in sweets,

so products with these colourings are often sold

on the high streets in the UK

and it's easy for John to demonstrate

just how vivid these controversial ingredients are.

Of those four artificial colours,

one, two, three are actually the six Southampton colours.

Wow. And that's only a very small bowl.

-Well, I'm not going to eat them, are you?

-No.

By law, any sweets that contain the Southampton Six colourings

can only do so at legally controlled levels

and they must carry a warning label on their wrappers,

explicitly stating that these colours may have an adverse effect

on activity and attention in children.

But in America, the rules are different.

No warning is required.

So to comply with UK rules, any American sweets sold over here

need to have a warning sticker added to their packaging.

The products we showed John -

and, indeed, to the parents at the school gates -

do have that warning.

But can parents always spot it?

Do you see a warning on that whatsoever?

Warning...

I don't see the warning. Where's the warning?

Well...I can't see anything.

Oh, yes - it does say...

SHE READS OUT WARNING

So you might think that this is all just fine.

The warning makes it clear that while these products

do contain at least one of these six colourings,

it's going to be at what the EU says is an acceptable level,

so you can make an informed choice

on whether you want to buy them or not.

But I'm afraid it's not always as simple as that,

because not all the sweets imported from America

and finding their way onto our high streets stick to the rules.

Here's the point - they may be legal over there,

but here, with no warning on the labels,

and potentially higher levels of artificial colouring

than we would allow here,

technically, they shouldn't be on sale in this country.

So why are they?

Rachel Wilcock is a training standards officer in Lancashire

who specialises in food safety.

We were becoming aware that there was a flood of these sorts of products

coming onto the market.

We'd noticed lots of little stalls popping up around town centres

and also products being sold on Facebook and eBay

and other internet sites.

So Rachel and her team set out to investigate

how many other imported sweets might be on sale across Lancashire

without those crucial warnings

about how the colourings can affect behaviour.

We looked at 24 products from across Lancashire.

17 of them were found to have incorrect labels.

This could have been either just a general incorrect labelling format

or that there was...the warning missing,

relating to the Southampton Six colours.

Without a warning, you might not realise

the significance of the colours listed in the ingredients list,

especially as in America, some of them have different names.

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

Five of the products were found to contain higher levels of colour

than were permitted by the European Union.

With the evidence suggesting that high levels could be linked

to an effect on behaviour, Trading Standards swung into action,

because - whether the individual sweets would be a problem or not -

without that crucial warning, even selling them is illegal.

Now what we'll do is contact the businesses

who have sold these products.

We'll also chase the products up the chain to the importers

and, for the products that have got high levels of food colour,

we'll speak to the Food Standards Agency

and look to start getting these products out of the market.

But that could be a bigger job than they think because,

as one of our researchers discovered on a quick trip

to two sweet shops in Manchester, the kind found in many town centres,

imported products without the right labelling are all too easy to find.

So I've got about 12 products with me

and there's nothing that has any warning labels

or anything that says "may have adverse effects on children".

We asked John Griffin to cast his expert eye over we had bought.

If I just take a quick look at the label...

You can usually tell straightaway whether it's complying.

This particular one doesn't look as if it is at all.

I'm just looking at the bottom, in terms of artificial colours,

and it gives its name as "red 40" -

that's not a colour that we would identify with over here.

Red 40 is just another name for Allura Red,

one of the Southampton Six colours.

It shouldn't be coming in with those labelling deficiencies.

It really should be relabelled for the European market.

The problem we always have is that if they've got the labelling wrong,

have they got something else wrong as well?

Now, it isn't the fault of the American manufacturers

if their products have been imported and sold in the UK

by a third party without their knowledge or permission,

which is what all the big companies we contacted told us was the case

with the ones that didn't have the right labelling.

They went on to stress that their products are made to suit

the tastes and legal requirements of each individual market,

with some reiterating that the sweets made and authorised

for sale only in America should not have found their way here

in the first place.

But in any case, the companies made it clear

that wherever a product is sold,

it will always have met their own quality and safety requirements.

Meanwhile, it seems that unwrapping the truth of what's in all those

brightly coloured imported sweets is more tricky than it should be.

Rachel from Trading Standards has some final words of advice.

I would always suggest buying products from a reputable source,

a reputable business, and perhaps avoid purchasing things like this

from the smaller internet businesses, auction sites, things like that,

because we don't always know where those products are coming from.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain -

would you know which of these everyday treats

packs in the most calories?

Custard and chocolate? Custard and chocolate, that.

-Are you saying that's the most?

-Yeah.

-Wine's fattening.

-So is beer.

You know, there's no denying that an awful lot of Brits

do like a drink or two, even perhaps just occasionally.

And while you may well consider how many units of alcohol

there are in your favourite tipple,

chances are you don't give the same thought

to how many calories it might have.

But maybe you should.

This bunch of fierce competitors

are the Blackbirds netball team from southwest London.

They like to and play hard,

both on and off the court,

and that usually involves a couple of drinks after the game.

Let's use it!

We play in the top division so, you know, it's really competitive

and we definitely always want to win.

Either way, come to the pub afterwards,

have a drink with your team-mates.

But like most of us, they don't give any thought

to how many calories they might be having.

Calories in this pint? Absolutely no idea.

So, to help them find out,

each of the team has agreed to keep a diary for the next week,

detailing everything they drink.

But are they so unusual knowing so little about how many calories

they're unwittingly drinking?

We asked some punters in another pub to guess which of these four items

is the most and the least calorific -

a pint of lager, a small slice of chocolate cake,

a large glass of white wine

and a chocolate and custard doughnut.

They're all convinced they know the answer,

but only one of them will end up getting it totally right.

Well, that's quite high

in calories, isn't it?

Custard and chocolate.

Custard and chocolate, that.

Right. Well, that's first.

No, no - that's first.

-That's got sugar and chocolate on it.

-Yeah, but so has that.

-Are you saying that's the most?

-Yeah.

-No, that's the most.

-No, it's not.

-It is, that's just cos you like it!

THEY LAUGH

I just think wine is better...

..than lager.

There's a lot more chocolate involved in that -

white chocolate, brown chocolate -

and I believe there's bits of chocolate in the middle, as well.

-I think the wine has probably got the least.

-Least, yeah.

-Wine's fattening.

-So is beer.

OK, I'll agree. We'll agree.

The least calories is going to be...

..that.

The muffin. And the big daddy at the end.

Cos there's more fat women than fat blokes.

Well, he might have called it a muffin, but he's no doughnut.

And - ignoring that last comment - he has identified the right order.

It's the large glass of white wine that has the most calories -

on average, 185.

Next is the pint of lager and the chocolate cake,

both of which have 180 calories.

But - perhaps surprisingly - the least calorific

is the chocolate and custard doughnut,

which has 143 calories.

No!

Official figures show that 80% of people don't know

how many calories there are in a pint of beer

or a glass of wine, and dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton

is concerned about what that means for the nation's waistline.

Alcohol's definitely contributing to obesity

and at the moment, alcohol contributes

about 6-7% of our daily calories

so that's a substantial amount

from a substance that's giving us enjoyment, of course,

but isn't giving us any other nutrients.

Most of the food products we buy do list the calorie content

on the packaging,

but alcoholic drinks are currently not recognised as food

so, under existing European law,

they've been exempt from that type of labelling.

I think we do have a funny relationship with alcohol,

where we almost see that it doesn't count,

it's not adding to calories,

and that's because it's not labelled,

so when you go out for a slap-up meal, you don't say,

"I'm going to miss out on dessert because I'm having a glass of wine."

Back in London, it's been six days

since our netball team started keeping their alcohol diaries.

I have no idea what to expect.

In total, over just one week,

our seven players have taken on

a staggering 13,070 calories

in booze alone.

And to burn all of that off,

they'd each need to play six-and-a-half netball matches.

Team captain Heidi is one of those leading the field.

She sank almost 30 units of alcohol

and more than 2,200 calories in booze.

I was the top calorie consumer?

Really?

Not far behind is last week's Player Of The Match.

Nicky drank 2,104 calories.

As if that wasn't enough food for thought,

wait till they see how all those calories would stack up

if consumed in doughnuts.

Here's the team's weekly calorie count - 58 doughnuts.

Looking at it like that, it looks so gross.

It's a bit of a shock, actually, looking at it in doughnut form.

The Portman Group, which represents drink manufacturers,

told us that it must

"always be the alcohol content, not the calorie content"

of a product that should primarily inform consumer decision-making.

pointing out that labels are limited in size and space.

it recommends that anyone looking for more information on calories

use tools such as the free Drinkaware app,

which gives all the details via your smartphone.

But in the meantime, some of the big drinks companies have announced

that they do intend to add calorie information to the labels,

on at least some of their brands.

As for our netball team, well, now that they know

the truth about the calories in their favourite tipples,

will it make any difference to what they drink?

It's definitely opened my eyes, this exercise.

Just thinking about it has made a difference,

and would definitely...

make me stop drinking more of the higher-calorie drinks.

Here at Rip-Off Britain,

we're always ready to investigate more of your stories on any subject.

You can write to us at:

Or send us an e-mail to:

The Rip-Off team is ready and waiting to investigate your stories.

So it's clear that not all the secrets of our food and drink

can be uncovered just by looking at the label,

however much we might like to think that that's the case.

But as we've seen today, sometimes the story on the label

is a lot more complicated.

But with a bit of luck, we've given you something to think about,

so that next time you go shopping,

you'll understand a little bit more about what you're getting

and whether it's quite as good a deal as you thought it was.

And it should all help with the family budget.

I'm afraid that's where we have to leave you for today,

but please do keep all of your stories, your questions

and your comments coming

and we will be back to investigate more of them very soon.

In the meantime, I'm afraid that's where we have to leave you today,

so thanks for joining us and from all of the team,

-bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.