Recent findings by consumer group Which? have revealed that some supermarket prepared salads, perceived as a “healthy” lunch alternative, contain more fat, and sometimes more calories, than the oft-berated burger and fries. The report particularly focused on labelling of meals and highlighted that consumers often found it difficult to identify information such as the fat content, meaning it is sometimes tricky to make a healthy choice. Rather unsurprisingly, the presence of high fat creamy dressings were mostly responsible for the findings – in one case the salad contained the same percentage of mayonnaise as it did chicken.
A quick look at the websites of the supermarkets involved showed that whilst supermarkets are keen to ensure they have policies concerning issues such as ethical trade, food safety, and genetically modified products, some are unexpectedly quiet about obesity and other consumer-related risks. As part of an overall socially responsible agenda, it seems that some companies have quite a large gap in their strategy and reporting.
The risks from allowing such gaps to persist are fairly clear, as has been demonstrated by the emergence of documentaries such as “Super Size Me” (2004) which focused on obesity issues in North America and explored the fast food industry’s corporate influence. Whether or not one agrees with the experiments undertaken in such documentaries and the methodology by which they are conducted, the effect of increasing awareness surrounding the underlying issues should not be underestimated. Studies of the kind conducted recently by Which? serve to illustrate this point further and indicate that these kinds of issues can present a significant risk (and opportunity) to the food retailing and manufacturing sector.
