Watchdog highlights Christmas food shopping ‘scams’ in France

Consumer food NGO (non-governmental organisation) Foodwatch has unveiled a list of ‘Christmas food scams’ and invited the public to vote for the ‘worst scam’ in its annual festive competition.

The ‘winner’ of the worst scam vote will be awarded the Foodwatch Casserole d’Or 2024 prize, the NGO said in its latest release on December 8.

Brands singled out this year include Maison Montfort, Delpeyrat, Tipiak, Maître Coq and Lanvin. 

Read also: Salmon, panettone: beware these 7 Christmas food ‘scams’ in France 

‘Scam’ practices - seen particularly ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays - include inflated prices, products with low quality ingredients or a very low percentage of the stated main ingredient, and items with more packaging than product.

“Adorned with gold and glitter, festive products all too often conceal emptiness, inflated prices and unhealthy additives,” said Foodwatch. 

Inflated prices

Certain brands are guilty of increasing the prices of products that are placed next to Christmas products “to encourage impulse purchases” among consumers, the NGO said.

It gave the example of a “small jar of balsamic vinegar” from Maison Delpeyrat, “which is sold next to its foie gras at €4.50 for 60 ml, i.e. €56.25 per litre…almost double the price [of the product when sold in] the oils and vinegars section”.

“Placed next to foie gras or salmon, small jars of fig or onion jam, sea salt or lemon, cost much more per kilo or per litre than in their usual aisle,” Foodwatch said.

Low quality ingredients

Many festive products have ingredients that are low in quality or which could even be harmful to health, and Foodwatch warned of the “presence of nitrites, which present a health hazard” in many Christmas items. 

These include, it said, “a block of Maison Montfort ‘Gastronomique’ duck foie gras with Sauternes”, which contains the additive “sodium nitrite (E250)”. This additive is not present in the brand’s ‘Authentique foie gras’ product, which is promoted less strongly at this time of year.

The NGO also pointed the finger at several “not-so-clean ingredients” on items that are sold as “old-fashioned flavours, regional recipes and culinary specialities”.

“Palm oil is all too often found in festive products as a substitute for butter in the preparation of chocolates, aperitif pastries and other Christmas cakes,” said Foodwatch.

It particularly highlighted the case of the Blini brand (which it also accused in 2022) of continuing to include palm oil in its products, despite the oil being “the result of intensive farming with disastrous consequences for the environment, human rights and our health”.

Palm oil has become a controversial ingredient in recent years due to its association with deforestation and poor health outcomes.

Read more: ‘Cheapflation’ on French supermarket foods attacked by watchdog 

Excess packaging

Foodwatch has said that packaging can be “deceptive” at this time of year, and tends to be “oversized”, sometimes with more packaging than product. This leads to waste and deception, it added.

“[Excess packaging’] misleads consumers about the real quantity of product it contains,” Foodwatch said. 

Read also: Petition against ‘half empty’ food packaging sold in France 

Casserole d’Or competition

The NGO has launched its annual ‘Casserole d’Or’ competition, which invites the public to vote for the ‘worst scam’ product among the five shortlisted by the association.

This year, they are:

• Nestlé Lanvin, dark chocolate ‘raspberry flavour’ snail shells, which have “no trace of raspberry”

• Maison Montfort, Gastronomique foie gras, which has controversial additive nitrate (E250) added

• Tipiak, Bouchées Pâtissières, which are made with palm oil instead of butter

• Maison Delpayrat, cream of balsamic vinegar which is sold for the equivalent of €56 per kilo when placed next to Christmas items

• Maitre Coq, stuffed capon roast with morels, which contains just 0.3% morels

“With the Casserole d’Or, Foodwatch is pointing the finger at products that practice ‘marketing abuse’ and deceive consumers. No question of letting the agrofood industry get away with it over the festive period!”, the association said in a Facebook post.

Voting is now open on Foodwatch.fr, until December 20.