Cast your vote and punish misleading claims on food products: these are the 3 2022 Golden Wind Egg nominees
The Golden Wind Egg; have you ever heard of it? It is the ‘prize’ that food watchdog Foodwatch has been awarding for thirteen years to the most misleading food product of the year. And this year, the dubious ‘honor’ of being nominated goes to these three products…
The fact that it is still necessary to hold this election is clear from the fact that certain producers still do not hesitate to pull the wool over consumers’ eyes. That is why Foodwatch’s work is important, because misleading consumers is prohibited by law.
Looking for loopholes in marketing regulations
But yes, if European regulations state that misleading consumers is not allowed, without precisely defining what is and is not permitted, it is easy for producers to find loopholes in the law from a marketing perspective. And so there are still products on the shelves that make you, as a consumer, believe you are doing a pretty good job if you eat or drink them, while they actually contain a great deal of hot air and misleading claims.
3 Golden Wind Egg 2022 nominees
Foodwatch is organizing this election for the thirteenth time because, according to the organization, food producers are pushing ethical and moral boundaries with their claims. They therefore nominated three products from among many suggestions, which you can vote for if you wish as the most misleading food product of 2022. These are the three contenders for that dubious honor:
Kellog’s All-Bran Fruit ’n’ Fibre
Perhaps the first time a product has made the list of nominees because of the phenomenon of shrinkflation, but it is genuinely something many consumers face every day. The same price on the shelf, or sometimes a small decrease, but considerably less content in the package, which certainly has not been reduced proportionally as well. A lot of extra air, in other words. The price per kilo: that is what you need to watch (and those are indeed often the small print on the supermarket shelf). And in the case of these breakfast cereals, it has risen considerably.
Jumbo Ice Teas (Inner Beauty, Feel Immune and Good Energy)
Wow, vague claims indeed. According to Foodwatch, these are “Sugar water with a hint of vitamins, in which the tea is nowhere to be found… You are mainly buying water, sugar and fructose syrup.” And what are you supposed to do with ‘felt immunity’? Ward off an imaginary cold?
Pure Ambacht Ambachtelijke salade Oma’s aardappel-scharrelei (from Dirk v/d Broek and Dekamarkt)
Hahaha: “Where does grandma keep the sodium benzoate again?”, Foodwatch asks about this potato and egg salad from Dirk and Dekamarkt’s own brand. Sodium benzoate is a preservative found not only in food, but also in deodorant, aftershave and baby wipes. It is not harmful in the legally permitted quantities, according to the Dutch government, but putting it in a potato and egg salad that you then call ‘artisan’ is really taking things too far. Foodwatch agrees, saying it has “had [its] fill of these kinds of ‘artisan’ products that are packed with industrial ingredients, such as preservatives and sweeteners.”
Image: Foodwatch
Also read:
- Knorr’s Poké Bowl with ‘lots of tasty vegetables’ is extremely misleading
- 10 truffle products from the supermarket that require a magnifying glass
- 5x what food packaging would look like if it were more honest
