Label sausages: eight items of the deception
We prefer to buy or already known, because the taste like, or something familiar, posovetuite: Anatoly ZHDANOV
Whether to trust what is written on packages of meat, found Roskontrol
We don’t often see people stop at the shelves, studying the product labels. And rarely look at the composition, preferring to buy or already known, because it tastes like or what friends have advised.
These are the manufacturers and marketers: use a variety of techniques so we can buy their product – emphasize his positive qualities, carefully hide the negative, and sometimes just fooling us:
– composition write unreadable font
– “forget” to tell us about preservatives, dyes and other food additives,
– placed on the label of beautiful promotional pictures for the product are irrelevant.
Now the labelling requirements for products listed in the technical regulations, which replaced the state Standards. The technical regulations are valid for the whole territory of the Customs Union – Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. To understand compliance standards, experts Roskontrol raided the shops, carefully reading labels and studying the markings. The first category that you checked specialists – Myasnaya gastronomiya. It turned out that the label of many products, at least, introduce consumer confusion, and at best, can cause harm.
1. Wild boar vs pig.
Clever names – one of the main points of deception.
For example, sausage “Wild boar” brand “KampoMos”. Recently came into fashion the meat of wild animals – it is believed that it is more natural and environmentally friendly. Here marketers and came up with a cunning move to give the product a cool name and the picture to depict the sausage with some dark accents, and all – ready for the new! Expect that in the true wild boar? As it is not so. The usual pork and beef. Apparently, to the consumer in any case didn’t recognize this terrible secret, the composition is written in small gold font on a background image of sausage light pink color.
2. How much chicken in beef sausages?
But sausages Beef M” from “Mikoyan”. The experts immediately saw: considering the order of ingredients, the beef in these sausages – less than 2%! Their main ingredient is chicken meat mechanically separated. The factory, which manufactured this product, named after Anastas Mikoyan, under whose leadership in the USSR in the 1930-ies, were developed the first Standards for meat products. But in our time, do not apply mandatory Standards for all products.
3. Where soy sausage?
Another product from “Mikoyan” – almond sausage. The composition is written in barely legible print: pork, protein stabilizer (pork skin, water), beef, poultry meat mechanically deboned, wheat starch, salt, soya protein, spices, flavours… Stop! If in the composition is starch, and even soy protein, I would like to know how much is in the sausage meat? This meat product or meat-and-vegetable? And maybe the vegetable-meat?
Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not specify the group of products in the marking, although it was obliged to do it, in the language of technical regulations, in the vicinity of name.
For reference: in meat product meat should be at least 60%, in meat and vegetable from 30% to 60%, in vegetable and meat 5-30%.
4. What the doctor ordered, or what’s in a name?
The most popular sausage in the nation, is still a “Doctor”. And so the manufacturer is being exploited national love. Just what the “doctor’s” sausage experts not found: “Doctor classic”, “Doctor popular”, “doctor’s original” and even “Doctor in Egorievski”.
The developers of the technical regulations on meat products were specifically forbidden to mention the sausage so that the name resembled a real “Doctor”. Because “doctor’s” sausage is fairly rigid requirements of GOST, and they need to meet.
A real “doctor” contains less fat and salt, more meat protein and no soy in the composition.
In fact, in “Doctor classic” from “KampoMos” consisting of specified animal protein is minced skin, cartilage and other parts of carcasses of animals that replace expensive meat. In the “doctor popular” from “Mikoyan” the main ingredient (poultry), and added soy protein, soy fiber, starch, semolina, etc., etc. In “doctor’s original” from company “Metatr” put starch and vegetable protein (probably soy too). Meanwhile, the soy – component, which quite often cause Allergy, and its presence must report separately, even if it is quite small. In the “doctor’s Egorievski” of JSC “New capital” is also animal protein and soy.
Experts who know by heart the ratio of protein and fats in this “Doctor”, saw that on all the labels of protein is always less than it should be, fat more often, and numerous food additives such just do not add the sausage good.
5. Medical sausages.
Many producers went ahead and “invented” a completely new product – the “doctor’s” sausages and sausages.
That’s really such a type of sausage in the Guest is definitely not. “Doctor” sausage produced under the brand name “Edge”, sausage – “West Malling”, “Mikoyan”. And, of course, again, neither the composition nor nutritional value, these meats do not meet the requirements for “doctor’s” sausage.
6. What with dairy
A separate category of pseudo-sausages. The essence of the violation is the same: come up with a name with the word “milk”, for example, “traditional Dairy”. Sausages familiar to many from childhood, they, too, have the requirements of GOST, due to which these sausages are delicious and of high quality. And what about here? The composition poultry meat, vegetable protein, protein stabilizer…
7. All the best for the children?
Conscientious manufacturers make special products, which have to meet special, more stringent requirements for composition and quality. And what they are doing is not very fair? Draw the label bears animals, call your product “Baby” or “kid”, put on a shelf with these children’s products. But is it really baby products?
Manufacturers of sausages under the brand names “VELCOM” and “Suburb” called the the same products – the “Baby”. And their composition is similar: they both contain prohibited for baby food phosphates (in violation of the exchange of calcium and, as consequence, the formation of the skeleton of the growing organism) and the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate.
In sausages “Baby, Nammy” from “Meat House Borodin” and sausages “gourmand” from company “Metatr” these supplements, luckily no, but they are not suitable for children protein and fat.
Parents, beware! On these children’s sausages have to be written “is a specialized product for baby food” and specified the age of the child (sausage casings is usually 3+).
8. Nominated for “disrespect to the consumer.
But there is a category of products, where seemingly all the information on the label is. And deception like no no. If not one “but”.
All known standard font for documents is 12 points. This is the most common, fairly easy to read size. But some manufacturers write the composition font
3 item! Or 4 points.
In sausages “doctor’s” and “Dairy” from “Klin” slaughterhouse on the label white italic font on a background of pale pink sausage. A similar picture is on the packaging “doctor’s” sausage “VELCOM”.
Unfortunately, in the regulations there are no clear requirements for the font, provided only that it needs to be clear and contrasting to the background.
REVIEW LAWYER
When marking of products the manufacturer must comply with the requirements of normative-legal and normative documents, to be bound by bringing to consumers complete and accurate information about products. The information that the manufacturer provides to the consumer is contained on the product label is the main mechanism of control of reliability and the prevention of actions that mislead consumers.
According to the Chairman ozpp “Roskontrol” Alexander Borisov: “the law provides for Administrative responsibility if the violations in the labeling of products. Depending on the intent and actions and the composition of the administrative code apply different: it is a violation of the order of labelling of products (the penalty from 100 to 300 thousand), and consumer fraud (the penalty from 100 to 500 thousand rubles.), and violation of the rights to receive reliable information about the product (from 5 to 10 thousand rubles). The challenge for Supervisory authorities is to prove intent to illegal actions, so often manufacturers, masking marketing practices under the provisions of the law, willing to pay a minor for trafficking in fines and to change the ways of promoting and selling products.”
It is IMPORTANT
What must be on the label
In the labelling of any product must be specified:
+ name;
+ composition;
+ quantity (mass, volume);
+ date of manufacture;
+ the expiration date;
+ storage conditions;
+ the name and location of the manufacturer (and packer if available);
+ recommendations and (or) restrictions on use, including in cooking;
+ indicators of food value.
