Are you confused by creative food labels?

Q. Where do Willow Farm chickens come from? A. Not Willow Farm.

In the same vein, Lochmuir salmon doesn’t come from Lochmuir. And you’ve guessed it, Oakham chicken isn’t from Oakham. So what’s going on?

All of these names are inventions by Tesco and M&S and are used to brand their chickens and salmon. The reality is that Willow Farm and Oakham chickens come from farms across the UK and Lochmuir salmon is supplied by several fish farms in Scotland.

Navigating the food label maze

There’s no denying that we are increasingly interested in where our food comes from and it seems that clever branding can help sell products. For me, these names evoke images of farms with chickens roaming freely or salmon swimming in a wild loch.

And there are no rules about using names of specific or made-up locations in product descriptions – other than those with Protected Geographical Status (PGS). Foods such as Stilton cheese, Melton Mowbray pork pies and champagne all have PGS and so have to come from the region or place in their titles.

But creating fictitious locations isn’t the only way consumers can be confused.

Do you know the difference between ‘strawberry flavour’ milk and a ‘strawberry flavoured’ milk, for example? The strawberry flavour can come from artificial flavouring but the strawberry flavoured milk has to contain real strawberries.

Ones to watch out for

Here are some other examples we found when we investigated food labelling for this month’s Which? magazine:

• Covent Garden Wild Mushroom soup contains only 0.6% dried wild mushrooms but 18% normal mushrooms.
• Homepride Beef in Ale sauce contains 4% ale, no beef stock and 38% tomatoes.
• Tesco Mango and Passion Fruit smoothie contains 47% apple juice, 23% mango puree and 4% passion fruit puree.

Which? wants consumers to get the products they think they’re paying for and campaigns for honest claims and clear labelling. Have you spotted other examples of exaggerated, confusing or meaningless claims on food or drinks? If so, leave a comment here and email us details (and even a photo) to foodeditor@which.co.uk.

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