Episode 4 Rip Off Britain: Food

-GLORIA:

-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.

I think they encourage you to buy more than you need,

and that causes a lot of waste.

-ANGELA:

-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?

So what they've done, they've bumped the price up

and they've knocked it down.

JULIA: From claims that don't stack up

to the secrets behind the packaging,

we'll uncover the truth about Britain's food,

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

Your food. Your money.

This is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello and welcome to Rip-Off Britain,

and our special series about food,

which, today, is all about making sure

that the things that we eat don't do any of us any harm,

whether that's through a dangerous allergic reaction,

a nasty case of food poisoning,

or even some sort of long-term health problem

caused by our food or diet.

Because, much as we love good food, when it's bad,

oh, it really can cause serious problems,

and how often have we heard that?

Which is why it's very reassuring that there are so many people

and organisations working really hard to keep us safe and healthy,

and why, today, we'll be taking an exclusive look

at some of the vital work that they do on our behalf,

whether it's the authorities on patrol

to stop food that could make us ill

getting to any shops or restaurants, or indeed the food companies

themselves changing what they make so that it's better for all of us.

Of course, when this kind of work is done properly, you might not

even realise it's happening, and you shouldn't have to think twice

about whether the food you buy is safe to eat.

Even so, quite a few of you have written to us

with concerns about what you're eating, so we're going to be

answering some of those questions.

We've take a sneak peek behind some normally closed doors

to find out just how the food industry keeps us safe.

Coming up - the new laws that mean every restaurant

and takeaway has to know which of their ingredients could cause

a deadly allergic reaction.

So are they getting it right?

It's very worrying, because we're the last link

in the chain before that food goes to the customer.

So, obviously, we've got to be more aware

than anybody else of what's in that dish.

And with all that salt added to our foods,

you've asked why it can't simply be taken out of the recipes.

Well, we find out as one Rip-Off viewer follows these

sausages on their journey to a healthier taste.

I don't think you have to compromise on taste

by reducing salt in food. I think you can have both.

We've often talked on this programme about how important it is

to know exactly what is in the food that we buy,

whether it's from a shop or being served to us in a restaurant.

But if you're one of the million people in the UK

with a serious food allergy, then knowing EXACTLY what is in your food

really does take on a whole new level of importance.

So a new set of laws to make sure that EVERYONE selling food

has to tell customers

if it contains any allergen at all is undoubtedly a good thing.

But then, with so many products coming from

so many different suppliers, keeping on top of what's in food,

for many retailers, is no easy task.

For Britain's growing number of allergy sufferers

and their families, it can be bad enough trying to

get your head around what's listed in the ingredients.

But working out what's safe to eat gets harder still

when so much of our food, such as takeaways and meals out,

doesn't come with a label.

Penelope Rigg from Brighouse in West Yorkshire is allergic to soya,

and when she's been buying food or eating out,

she's often found it tricky to get the information

she needs to avoid a serious allergic reaction.

The first time it happened was absolutely horrific.

I was sure I was going to die.

My mouth was full of tongue

and I couldn't breathe and I was shaking.

Penelope contacted us, concerned about how difficult it is

for anyone who, like her, has allergies, to work out which foods

might contain ingredients that could cause a problem.

I think it would be absolutely wonderful

if, when you went into a pub or a restaurant,

the people who served you knew what the ingredients were

in the things that they were serving you.

There must be other people in the universe that are allergic to soya.

I can't be the only one!

Well, exactly what Penelope had hoped for has now become law.

New rules have been brought in to make it easier to find out

what's inside the food you're eating,

whether you're allergic to soya, nuts, gluten

or any one of the 14 most common allergens.

From December 2014, anyone selling food, from canteens to churches,

is legally required to know whether their dishes

contain ingredients that might spark an allergic reaction.

And if any do, they have to be able to tell any customers who ask.

Repeated failure to do so could mean up to £5,000 in fines.

Now, for supermarkets and big chains who have larger resources,

that should be relatively straightforward,

and indeed, when we did some spot checks in a number of restaurant

chains, staff did correctly pass on all the necessary information.

But will it be so easy for smaller businesses,

who also now need to be 100% certain of every ingredient they buy?

I've come to a fast-food outlet at Stokesley in North Yorkshire,

just to see how it's going to work in practice.

Janet Bowes and her husband Stuart have been running takeaways,

including this fish and chip shop, for more than 20 years.

-Hi.

-Oh, hello, Angela.

-You must be Janet.

-Hi, I'm Janet, hello.

-Hi.

-Pleased to meet you.

'And, with a long queue of hungry punters, I'm mucking in to help.'

-What can I get you?

-Can I get chips, open, please?

Chips, open, that's one of these, isn't it?

'Now, there may not be a big list of allergens in those chips,

'but the new law has forced Janet to scrutinise

'what's in EVERYTHING that the shop sells, from the fillings

'in the pies to the batter mix for the fish, and from the

'contents of the ketchup to the extras in the sausages.'

That's £2.30, please.

'But with Janet buying her ingredients from dozens

'of suppliers who might themselves use a number of different

'manufacturers, that's quite a task.

We've got deliveries coming in every day

and, without checking the ingredients label on every product,

we don't know whether any of the allergens or the ingredients

have changed, and the only way at the moment is to check every label.

Do you think your suppliers are as aware as you are?

No, I don't. Some of them are, some of them, yes, are ahead of us.

One of our main suppliers has informed us.

Everything I buy from him has come with an allergen list now,

so I know what allergens are in there.

But I did ring somebody yesterday and he had no idea.

-Oh, my gosh.

-So, it's a scary one.

We're the last link in the chain before

that food goes to the customer, so, obviously, we've got to be more aware

than anybody else of what's in that dish.

It's obvious that while Janet is desperately keen to abide

by the new law, keeping on top of EVERY ingredient that she uses

is going to be a big job.

To make it easier for her staff to be able to answer questions,

she's created a book listing the products that they sell

and what's in them.

We have a file we keep behind the counter that the staff can see.

-Allergen info.

-Yes.

And what we've done to try and make it nice and simple for the staff

is we've listed the items that have allergens in,

not every item that we have in the fish shop,

and we've highlighted what possible allergen could be in there.

Just talk me through some of them.

We've got our favourite one, the battered cod.

No problem with the fish, unless somebody's got an allergy to fish,

but the allergens on there relate to the batter that it's cooked in.

Yes, cos it may have gluten in it.

It can have gluten, it can have soya, mustard, a little bit of mustard...

-Is mustard an allergen?

-It is, it is, yes.

There are things in this list that you wouldn't expect, aren't there?

-Yes, there is, yes.

-Yeah.

Do you think this is a good idea

and that this particular piece of legislation is actually worthwhile?

Yes, I think it's good, because it's highlighting something

and it's making us aware of how serious it is.

If you do get into trouble, it's the expense if you do it wrong.

Well, it seems like Janet and Stuart have got their work cut out

to abide by the new laws when you look at all the products

that they have on offer.

But let's hope, for the sake of people like Penelope, that they

and other food retailers get it right.

I will be able to go out, go to somewhere

and say, "Can you tell me if this particular item contains soya?"

And they have to know whether it does or not.

And that will make my life virtually blissful,

because I haven't been able to do this in the past.

Of all the health messages we've been bombarded with over

the years, reducing the amount of salt we eat is one of the clearest.

Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure,

which, in the long term, can lead to life-threatening health problems

like heart attacks and strokes.

But, despite that message ringing out loud and clear, we still eat

more salt than we should and most of it is in processed foods.

So the obvious solution might seem for it to simply be taken

out of these foods altogether.

But, as one Rip-Off Britain viewer who wrote to us about exactly

that subject has now found out, that's not as simple as it sounds.

We keep being told about the bad things in the food we eat,

and many of us try hard to cut down on the ones that,

if we have too much, can do us harm.

Sugar, saturated fat and alcohol might be the usual suspects

but for anyone with potential heart problems,

public enemy number one is salt.

And some of us, like Maggie Hackney from Hertfordshire,

would like to see the amount contained in some of our foods

dramatically reduced.

Maggie has a long-term interest in health,

so much so that her years of work in the area

have earned her an MBE.

I'd like to see the food industry remove all

unnecessary salt from any food products.

I don't think you have to compromise on taste

by reducing salt in food. I think you can have both.

And that's something we're about to test out.

The recommended maximum intake of salt is 6g a day for an adult.

Any more and we're told we could risk

increasing the chances of heart disease.

But, on average, each of us eats closer to eight to 9g a day.

About 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy,

in things like bread, breakfast cereals and ready meals,

so it's not always easy to know how much salt you're consuming.

And it's these pre-made, processed products in particular

that Maggie thinks need to be shedding the salt.

My father died of heart disease, and I am aware that we used to eat

far too much salt in our diet when I was young with my family at home.

On average, we Brits eat almost 50% more salt every day than we should,

and the place that eats the most...

is Scotland.

Here, as in the rest of the UK, the Government has set strict targets

to reduce the levels of salt in foods.

But that can be easier said than done.

So Maggie has come to Scotland to see for herself

how challenging it can be to cut salt from foods altogether.

-Hello.

-Hiya, Maggie.

Cameron Skinner is an award-winning butcher who runs

the Extraordinary Sausage Company.

Sausages are traditionally high in salt.

Just two of them could be a quarter of your daily allowance.

But that's no longer quite the case with Cameron's sausages,

as he's been working hard to reformulate his recipes

with less salt.

Cameron makes 60 varieties of sausage,

and they all contain more than 75% meat.

The remaining 25% is usually made up of ingredients like oats,

rice and a unique combination of herbs, seasoning and salt.

That looks like an awful lot of salt.

With all manufacturers feeling the pressure from the Government

to use less salt, Cameron was keen to oblige.

But when he tried removing salt from his sausages entirely,

he soon found there was a very big problem.

His bangers just didn't taste as good.

We made a sausage with no salt in it at all and it was terrible.

Everything about it. The colour wasn't the same,

texture was different and the overall flavour just wasn't there.

It's a challenge shared across the food industry.

Removing one thing from a recipe can throw up all sorts

of unexpected problems, which require lots of time-consuming

and expensive research to resolve.

And with a fraction of the resources of a big supermarket, it's not easy

for small businesses like Cameron's to work out how to make

something like sausages salt-free while still tasting just as good.

So, with limited resources himself,

Cameron turned to a pilot scheme

run by the Scottish Food and Drink Federation

to help small businesses reformulate their recipes.

Chris Peace is the food technologist who was assigned to Cameron's case.

Cameron asked me to review the recipes,

to identify the salt content

and which ingredients it was contained within.

Chris discovered that the saltiest part of the sausage

was the seasoning mix that formed the base of lots of Cameron's recipes.

We did have to work with a number of different seasoning companies,

some products were rejected straightaway

and we couldn't get anything close to what we were looking for.

Other people who worked,

they created a number of variations that we tried

with further improvements or finessing of the recipe,

until we got what we were actually looking for.

It took almost six months before Chris, Cameron

and the seasoning manufacturers could come up with a mix

that Cameron's customers approved of.

Well, it was absolutely brilliant, we knew we'd got there,

obviously you can calculate the recipe and you know

where the salt content needs to be,

but it's getting that right blend of spices and flavours in there

to come through at the same time.

Dr Jonathan Wilkin from Abertay University knows only too well

the problems manufacturers like Cameron face

when they're trying to cut out salt

because it plays a much bigger role in food than simply taste.

Why can't we just take out all salt from all prepared foods?

We can't take all salt out of all prepared foods

because it's there for shelf life.

If you want to pick up a food product on a Monday

and still eat it on a Saturday or a Sunday,

then you need salt in it.

And if it isn't, the problems might not just stop

at sausages that taste bad.

If you don't get it right, in some cases,

removing the salt could actually be dangerous.

As Jonathan's keen to demonstrate.

We have our Petri dishes,

and what we've done is added different salt contents

or percentages to the Petri dishes.

When you remove salt from food, it makes it easier

for potentially harmful bacteria to grow,

increasing the risk of food poisoning

if it isn't sold and eaten quickly.

Most bacteria don't like salt

and as you can see, each one has a percentage of salt.

So this one's got no salt, this one's got 2.5% salt.

And as you can see, there's still a reasonable amount of growth.

When it gets up to 5%, we see a reduction,

quite a big reduction in salt, but still a little bit

of bacteria growing, and then at 7.5 they're completely clean,

there's nothing in there, so it just shows you the percentages of salt

can really make a difference

when you're preserving foods against bacteria.

And is there any other way we could do this safely yet?

Currently, no.

If we started putting low salt in food products,

-you would see more food going off quicker.

-Mm-hm.

Making sure that lower salt levels in what we eat don't risk

causing it to go off faster or even lead to food poisoning

requires expertise and research,

neither of which Cameron's business had easily available.

But thanks to the combined powers of the experts

and those seasoning manufacturers,

Cameron's sausages now contain

an impressive 45% less salt than they used to,

making them well within the Scottish Government's targets.

And to make up for what was taken out,

Cameron got creative with what he put back in.

We make a sausage with seaweed and rhubarb

which gives you the saltiness, you know, natural saltiness,

with a bit of tartness with the rhubarb.

We also made a sausage with banana.

We use fruit, veg, all different things, to give other...

chillies, things like that, to give other flavours to the products.

Convinced that, with the right help,

all manufacturers could bring their salt levels down,

Maggie hopes what she's seen in Scotland can be extended

to the rest of the UK to help all of us reduce the amount of salt we eat.

I've learnt a lot from this experience, but I now understand

that you can't totally remove all salt from a product,

but to do so and still keep the flavour and taste,

I think, is the way forward.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain, we'll cut through the mixed messages

and confused advice to separate fact from fiction

when it comes to having a healthy diet.

It's a bit confusing when, on one hand,

you need to increase your fruits and vegetables

and on the other hand, it's conflicting information

telling you that you shouldn't have them.

Now, we know from all your e-mails and letters

just how baffled many of you are

by the often conflicting health advice

it seems we're bombarded with every single day.

Well, don't worry, because help is at hand!

We enlisted a willing volunteer to help us cut through

all the confusion and the different messages that are out there.

But as she did all of that,

the question we couldn't stop wondering about

is whether amidst all the misinformation that's around,

are we getting as good,

and as up-to-date, official help as we ought to be?

If all those surveys and news reports are to be believed,

worrying about healthy eating is something of a national obsession.

And certainly there are millions of us

who do try and keep up with the latest advice.

But when so much of the information we get seems contradictory -

that isn't always easy.

Ashley Whitehead from Manchester is one of those

who tries to read up on how to eat more healthily.

But, like many others, she can be left completely flummoxed

by what she sees in the newspapers and online.

It's quite confusing whether or not, you know,

to increase meat for the protein or can you get protein elsewhere

from maybe lentils and the like?

So, that's been quite confusing for me.

And she was left particularly frustrated after making

a change to her diet because she'd read it would be good for her,

only to see a report saying exactly the opposite a short time later.

One thing I changed in my diet

was increase the amount of fruit juices and smoothies,

especially on the label

when they're mentioning it's two out of your five a day.

However, I started reading that maybe they weren't as good for you.

If, like Ashley, you're trying

to work your way through all those conflicting messages,

you might think that one place to turn to would be the Government.

It publishes official health advice,

shown on what's called "the eatwell plate".

You may have seen a poster of it in your GP's surgery,

dividing up our diet into five food groups,

and telling us roughly how much of each we should eat.

The biggest shares go to starchy carbohydrates,

and to fruit and veg,

then followed by milk and dairy foods,

protein-rich foods like meat, fish and beans,

and finally foods that are high in fat or sugar.

I've been left a little bit confused in trying to understand,

you know, certain fruits contain a lot of sugar

and I should stay away from them.

So it's a bit confusing when, on one hand,

you're told that it's healthy and you need to increase

your amount of fruits and vegetables

and on the other hand, it's, you know,

conflicting information telling you that you shouldn't have them.

The idea of the eatwell plate was introduced 20 years ago.

And although its design has changed since then,

the advice and information shown has never been updated.

And as a result, some experts,

including nutrition scientist Professor Susan Jebb,

are worried that instead of helping us identify what we should be eating

it's simply adding to all the confusion.

The eatwell plate is designed to convey all of the information

we want to give the public about a healthy diet

and that's a pretty tall order for a single image.

So I think it's not surprising that we have struggled

to make it as clear and as informative as it might be.

We put these criticisms to Public Health England,

the organisation responsible for the eatwell plate.

It told us...that the advice is not designed to be used alone,

but alongside wider messaging from other NHS resources.

It went on to say that its own research has found that consumers

are not confused about the imagery of a plate,

and explained that the plate model hasn't changed in 20 years

because...

..in all this time.

But at the same time,

Public Health England IS reviewing the visual image of the plate

to ensure that it remains:

But if the eatwell plate isn't enough to help Ashley make sense

of all the health advice we're overwhelmed with,

then maybe nutrition consultant Sue Baic can.

Sue's called round to see

if she can help clear up some of the things that have left

not just Ashley bewildered, but quite possibly you, as well.

I eat a lot of fruit,

but I'm a bit concerned with the amount of sugar that's in the fruit.

OK, the message is we should be having at least five a day

and that's a mix of different fruits and vegetables,

but only about 31% of the population actually achieve it,

so people aren't really managing it.

People don't realise that canned count as one of your five a day,

so your baked beans can count as one,

you've got tomatoes and beans in there.

And what about those fruit smoothies that Ashley had been put off buying

after seeing reports suggesting

they had too much sugar to really count towards your five a day?

With a smoothie, if you've got

two portions of fruit and vegetable in there,

you've actually got the fibre in there as well.

We do need a mix of fruit and vegetables

and we do need some that aren't juiced.

So, it seems like Ashley needn't give up on those smoothies just yet!

But something else she can't quite keep up with is the advice on water.

Because again, there isn't always agreement

on how much you should be drinking.

Six to eight drinks a day,

depending on how big they are.

It doesn't have to be water -

tea counts, coffee, milk, fruit juice, squash,

those sorts of fizzy drinks - they all count towards it.

A drink that doesn't count towards your daily water total is wine

because it's dehydrating.

But some reports would have us believe that in moderation

it can have other life-extending magical properties

while others say exactly the opposite.

So which is right?

Red wine contains some anti-oxidants

which have been shown to have benefits for heart disease.

What the research shows is that all types of alcohol are beneficial

in terms of heart health, but only a very small amount

and for specific groups - men and post-menopausal women.

And it's 1-2 units a day of any type of alcohol that's beneficial.

The problem is most people drink more than that.

Why don't you pour into that glass

what you think would be a unit of red wine.

OK, you've got about 250ml there, I would estimate,

which, this is going to surprise you,

that's actually three units!

That's a bit scary.

Finally, Ashley gets particularly confused about carbohydrates,

like bread, pasta and potatoes.

Around a third of our diet should be starchy carbohydrate foods,

and around half of that should be the wholegrain version.

The wholegrains are higher in fibre

and they're higher in vitamins and minerals.

They also keep us feeling full for longer as well.

People get very scared about bread and potatoes,

they think they're fattening, but often it's the things we add to them,

so the butter or mayonnaise we might add to the potatoes or the bread

that adds on the extra calories.

At the end of it all, it seems

the best advice is probably the simplest and the most familiar.

Just about all foods can be absolutely fine

as part of a healthy diet.

As long as you don't eat too much of any of them!

But for nutrition scientist Professor Susan Jebb,

what's so frustrating about the mass of contradictory headlines

is that they distract from the more fundamental health messages,

the ones that most experts agree on.

The frustration for me is that actually the core of dietary advice

has remained absolutely consistent over many, many decades.

On average, people eat too much saturated fat, too much sugar,

too much salt and too little fibre.

It's not lack of knowledge which is really the barrier

to people implementing healthy diets.

As for Ashley, in future,

she'll be taking a lot of the food stories and advice she reads

with that proverbial pinch of salt.

A lot of the common-believed myths on what's bad and what's good

is more clearer now in my head and not necessarily going to look at,

you know, maybe things in that way any more.

Here at Rip-Off Britain, we're always ready to investigate

more of your stories - on any subject.

Confused over your bills or just trying to wade through

the never-ending small print?

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.

Well, I think as we've seen, making sure that the food we eat

won't do us any harm can be a very tough job

and one that never stops!

And I have to say, I was genuinely impressed to see that everything

is now thoroughly checked to stop anyone having an allergic reaction.

You can't take away all the risks entirely, of course,

but you can see there's a real commitment to getting it right.

-And I think that's very comforting.

-Very reassuring.

And that really will pay off because it's going to make eating out

a lot easier for many, many people.

I must say, by the way, I am always fascinated

when we get the access to have that look behind the scenes.

So much goes in the food industry we're not even aware of,

and it's good to know that people are working really hard

to make what we eat not just safe, but also healthy.

And on that reassuringly positive note,

we have to leave it for today.

You can of course find out more about the stories in today's programme

on our website, you know the address...

And we'll be back to investigate more of your stories soon.

But until then, thanks for joining us, and from all of us, goodbye.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.