Nutritional Information

brill · May 13, 2010

I've been in Sainsbury's twice this week, saddo that I am (and disorganised saddo at that), and I've noticed that on newer food items, they've started putting the nutritional panel on the inside of the packet! You can see it's there, but you can't read it without opening it up. :evil:

Perhaps they expect us to buy the stuff then bin it if it's got too much sugar/salt/fat or whatever - I don't think so!

Maybe I'll pick up a pile of packets, some time when I'm not in a rush, and take them to the Information desk and ask them to open them up!

I have emailed them via their website to point out the uselessness of this behaviour, but I only got an automated reply. I even looked at the Food Standards Agency website to see if it was a legal requirement to have the nutritional info on the outside, but it doesn't seem to be; they only have to list the ingredients, not say how much of anything there is. Daft eh? :roll:

Anyone noticed this in other Supermarkets? I hope it's not a trend.....

cugila · May 13, 2010

I agree this sounds madness !!

I have frequently e-mailed companies for nutritional info on behalf of members and although the initial response is via na automated e-mail, there is always a fuller response within a few days.

If you don't get a proper response e-mail again or pm me with the details and we will take it up from here on your behalf.

cugila
Forum Monitor

brill · May 13, 2010

Thanks - I'll post their reply if I get one.

brill · May 15, 2010

Cugila, you were right I did get a nice reply from a real person this morning.

Dear Beryl
Thanks for your email. I’m sorry that some of our products contain the nutritional information on the inside of the packaging. I can understand how frustrating this is especially as you need this information for a specialised diet.

We use the traffic light system on our products to allow customers to make informed choices. Food products with traffic light labels on the front of the pack show you at-a-glance if the food you are thinking about buying has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt, helping you get a better balance.
Can you tell me which products have the details inside the packaging? Once I have this, I’ll be able to find out more information for you.
We appreciate you taking time to contact us and look forward to seeing you in store again soon.

Kind regards

Patricia McGovern
Customer Manager

To which I replied

Thank you for your reply.
The items that I had looked at with a view to buying were pork, lamb and beef kebabs from the new barbecue range and your own brand fishcakes – various flavours.

I know about the traffic-light system, but as you will appreciate, what is ‘low in sugar’ for a non-diabetic might well contain too much for me to eat safely, so I do need to know the exact amount.
However, I’m sure there are plenty of other shoppers who like to know exactly how much sugar, salt etc there is in a product in order to make a healthy choice, it’s not just diabetics. I try to limit the amount of salt in my children’s diet, for example, there are others who follow low carbohydrate diets too. I hope you are able to pass on my concerns to whoever is responsible for packaging design; this is more than just an inconvenience, it will mean that those shoppers who are particularly diet-conscious, for whatever reason, will not buy those products.

Regards,

I suspect however she is just going to send me the nutritional information, whereas I want them to think about the ramifications!

cugila · May 15, 2010

Thanks Brill.........that's ....well.....Brill !!!

The Traffic Light system........apparently carbs were going to be included but under pressure from certain quarters the proposal was dropped........now I wonder why ??? :twisted:

However for most diabetics it isn't the 'sugars' that we are concerned about ....it is the carb content. I have had the same thing from other companies, they all mention 'sugars', not what I am interested in. I am sure you will get the whole nutritional information from them, including carbs. I do wish the NHS and DUK et al would tell us to avoid or reduce carbs.....NOT just sugars, that would be so much better advice for Diabetic's. Stop the confusion as many newly diagnosed are just told to avoid the sugars. As we know it can be quite low in sugars, but high in carbs........not good !

Ken

brill · May 15, 2010

Yes, I do count all carbs, but I wanted to keep it nice and simple for her.....

brill · May 18, 2010

Just had another e-mail, which is a bit more encouraging:

Dear Beryl
Thanks for your email. I’m sorry that the nutritional information on the beef, lamb and pork kebabs and also the Sainsbury’s fishcakes is not convenient enough to read. I understand that this information is very important and I realise you especially need this firsthand to match your family's diets.

As requested, I have passed on your feedback to our buyer’s team and also our packaging team. We use all customer feedback to help make improvements to our products and I’m sure that your comments will be fully considered during the next product review.

You can look at the current nutritional information for all of the products you mentioned on our website at http://www.sainsburys.co.uk. The total sugar content is provided in table form and gives you a breakdown per kebab/fishcake or per 100g. The salt content of the products is also shown, so you can make a more accurate judgement for your children’s diets.

I appreciate you taking the time to get in touch and we look forward to seeing you in store again soon.

Kind regards

Mark Donaldson
Customer Manager

With any luck, I made them think about it!
I'm off to check the carb count in their fishcakes now....

Brill

Synonym · May 19, 2010

brill said:
With any luck, I made them think about it!
I'm off to check the carb count in their fishcakes now....

Hi Brill.

Well done for writing and getting something started, more of us need to be pro-active! 8)

I read in the RT that apparently when letters are received by big corporations they reckon that each one represents the views of 10,000. :shock: That means 9,999 of us grumble but don't write so clearly we need to improve on that!

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