Food Commission slams ‘misleading’ flavourings

The Food Commission is calling for all flavourings to be individually identified on food labels, accusing well-known brands of fleecing shoppers by using flavourings to create a false impression.

As an example, the organisation said many products with strawberry in their name contained few or no strawberry content at all.

It said Jordans Frusli All Fruit Strawberry Bars contained only 0.5% strawberry juice concentrate and added that the bars are actually made from apples. Hartley’s Strawberry Jelly with ‘new fruitier taste’ contained no strawberries at all and nor did Nesquik Strawberry Milkshake Mix, said the independent watchdog.

Instead, in these and other products, the strawberry taste was recreated using flavouring, said the Food Commission.

A Food Commission spokesman said: “Describing a product as strawberry flavour and plastering the packet with pictures of strawberries when that product contains just a tiny percentage of strawberry or even no real fruit at all is misleading and deceptive. Unfortunately it is also legal and the practice is widespread.”