Private label products criticized for their additives

Private label food products are popular with supermarket customers because of their lower prices, but can contain potentially harmful additives, according to a survey by 60 million consumers published on Thursday, which found significant disparities between brands.

The study by the magazine published by the public institution National Institute of Consumption (INC) is based on data from 3,000 to 6,000 products referenced by the Open Food Facts database, from six distribution brands: Auchan, Carrefour, Intermarché, E. Leclerc, Lidl and Coopérative U.

First observation, the popularity of these products, compared to those of major brands, is significant and has increased thanks to the strong price inflation in 2022 and 2023.

Private label products are on average 20 to 30% cheaper than their branded equivalents... even if these ranges of food products have also seen their prices increase.

Filling your trolley with vending products could, however, have another cost: products displaying a Nutri-score (the main nutritional quality index) of "E" or "D", the lowest values, are in the majority on the shelves. This is due in particular to additives, to health risks that are still poorly understood: emulsifiers, nitrates and antioxidants are commonplace in the composition of these "low cost" foods, points out 60 million consumers.

Although Auchan and Carrefour are doing better in this area, with Lidl and Intermarché being the poor performers, "the overall picture is rather bad", the study points out. Out of 30 of the most commonly sold products, only four receive a "good" rating compared to eight "very bad" scores, across all brands.

In terms of price, the products sold in E.Leclerc stores are 5.5% cheaper than the average for all products sold across all ranges, followed closely by Carrefour (-2.7%) and Intermarché (-2%), while the products sold in Monoprix stores are on average 16.7% more expensive.

Note that Lidl and Aldi are absent from this ranking, 60 million consumers, arguing that their high proportion of distributor products makes comparison with other brands difficult.