Products from shops like Food Warehouse… Fake?

[NepheliLoux]

DH made me my usual beans on toast and it tasted weird. I asked him what beans he used and he said they were Branston because he knows I only eat Branston beans. I didn’t believe him they were Branston because they didn’t taste right. Anyway it transpired he had bought the beans from The Food Warehouse as they cost less.

They look like Branston Beans but they don’t taste like Branston Beans. DH went to Tesco and normality has thankfully been restored. We compared the beans from Tesco with the ones from The Food Warehouse - they do look the same but DH said the ring pull on The Food Warehouse ones break when trying to open. AIBU to think they could be fake?

I’ve also noticed this with Pepsi from Poundland - tastes different.

I’m definitely not pregnant!

Implying people are being snobby

Awa bile yer heid min.

I can't imagine there's enough profit in fake beans for anyone to bother. Black market beans? It seems unlikely.

Well yes, when you put it like that, I’m probably overthinking this.

They definitely taste different to the Tesco/Sainsburys ones though. I’m not being snobbish, I’d rather pay Food Warehouse prices so long as my Branston beans taste like Branston beans

I once bought a big bag of Yorkshire tea in B&M and it didn't taste the same as my usual Sainsbury's bought bags. They are not the only example, i no longer buy food/drinks from any of the 'cheaper' places

Call me a snob if you want but I'm actually autistic and highly sensitive to different tastes.

Were the beans dry and crumbly? I once got Branston from B and M and they were horrible. I'd never had them before though so maybe I got a "bad" tin!

Full of insults tonight... How charming.

IMHO it's unlikely but not impossible they're counterfeit. I swear I got counterfeit Name Brand bread at a corner shop once, but that's a small corner shop not a big chain.

It's more likely they're parallel import. It's also possible they've been stored badly at some point affecting the flavour.

It's possible the brand is making a "discount store special" - labelling it as though it was the same product but actually making it a cheaper recipe intended to be sent to discount retailers. But for a food product I think it's stupid and unlikely that a big brand would do that, it's such a risk to their reputation. More common it's pack size changes, like normally a box of coffee pods is 16 of them but the boxes in Lidl are only 12.

Most likely they’re outsourcing the manufacture. Usually the exact recipe isn’t shared (trade secret) so the co-manufacturers basically creates a dupe that is close enough that the brand owner signs it off. But, it’s not a perfect match and some consumers can tell. I’d make a note of the batch number and any other can markings, and compare to another can!

Your first mistake was deliberately buying Branston beans. They taste and look like pig swill.

Try the M&S 55p ones, hands down they’re the best.

I just found this:

"Canned Food
Canned goods, such as tomatoes, beans, and more, lose some of their shelf life when stored in a room with a temperature that rises beyond 70 degrees (and when temps reach 95 degrees (Fahrenheit), the food will spoil quickly). The quality of your canned foods may decrease after being thawed if they freeze throughout the winter."

This was in relation to storing food in the garage but it could also equally apply to food in a warehouse.

So I suspect they were stored where the temperature was too high.

Not fake

I work for a large food manufacturer and they buy current stock but also stock which we are delisting / short of shelf life / changing the packaging for ALOT cheaper - hence why they can sell it cheaper to us