The law on the labeling of food products contains gray areas allowing manufacturers to sell their products without indicating precisely their composition. They can thus mislead consumers by claiming to indicate the exhaustive list of ingredients on the label. For example, according to CNEWS, sugar is often hidden under several vague names: sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, or even sorbitol.
UFC-Que Choisir conducted a survey on products from the Gerblé brands (Nutrition group
However, the consumer association has noticed that around thirty cookies, cakes, spreads or even chocolate bars are presented as “no added sugar” even though they contain sweetening sugars.
The European regulations of 2006 however specify that the claim “without added sugars can only be made if the product does not contain […] foodstuff used for its sweetening properties”, reports UFC-Que Choisir. This prohibition is explained because the consumer wishes to buy a product whose quantity of sugar has not been artificially accentuated in order to limit its consumption.
However Gerblé and Karéléa do not respect this promise by labeling their products as being “without added sugar”. Contacted by UFC-Que Choisir, neither the manufacturers nor the fraud prevention services wished to react.
Other products, without necessarily bearing the words “no added sugar”, contain sweeteners and therefore more or less hidden sugar. Discover in the slideshow below the list of products with a high sugar content without us knowing it.
