Alcohol in pudding not clearly displayed

[Purpledefector]

I need a bit of a reality check - prefacing to say I'm 2.5 years sober - and not sure if this is clouding my judgement a bit.

I bought a dine in meal in Sainsbury's and the pudding was ' chocolate hazelnut pots' ' sponge biscuit layered with creamy chocolate hazelnut mascarpone and topped with hazelnuts and chocolate shavings'.

When I started to eat it I immediately noticed the very obvious taste of alcohol. Went and checked the packaging and listed within the ingredients was 'alcohol' but this wasn't mentioned or hinted at anywhere else on the product - in the picture or the describing words.

I was really surprised by this lack of transparency. Sainsbury's responded to my complaint really quickly - offered me a £10 gift card and said it would be fed back to the packaging department. I said that I felt that didn't reflect the seriousness of the issue and asked for it to be raised with a manager. It has been and their response is the same.

It's not sitting right with me, it feels like a huge error - and I want to take it further.

What's the general consensus?

But it does say that it contains alcohol unless this is a different pudding, but it does fit the description you posted.

That red ring to make it obvious seems like a weird design choice by sainsburys

Very sensible. I just wish they’d add alcohol to that list, as just like gelatine, it’s avoided by a significant number of people. Is gelatine an allergen or is it bolded for people with religious/ethical concerns?

Maybe you need to call someone for advice?
I’m not sure who it would come under… maybe food standards? Health?

Yes it is wrong and the fact it contains alcohol should be very clear!
Are the staff on the tills aware that this contains alcohol?would they sell it to an under 18? Are they allowed to sell it to an under 18?
When I worked in retail we had to ID people if buying chocolates with alcohol inside

As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn’t be at all surprised for a coffee sauce used in a pudding to contain some alcohol. I’d be even less surprised if it said ‘contains alcohol’ on the front of the packet!

We don’t know the taste of alcohol dominates, the OP just said that she could taste alcohol.

I hate fennel and aniseed, but I wouldn’t be complaining if I bought something that stated it contained aniseed and then was too aniseed-y because that’s my personal preference. The shop hasn’t done anything wrong.

It is clear - it's on the front of the packaging, and listed on the ingredients. OP just missed it.

There are strict laws on how much alcohol can be in a product before it becomes an age restricted product. IIRC any food item with alcohol content greater than 0.5% volume is age restricted. If this pudding isn't age restricted, and from the sainsbury's website it isn't, then it will have a tiny amount of alcohol in it.

If alcohol was included in the list of ingredients, I really don't see the problem. My daughter and son in law are Muslims and I automatically check the ingredients on any ready made food items I buy for alcohol or nutmeg, as I would for ingredient that I want to avoid in food thst I buy. I don't see what more should be necessary.

I don't think gelatine is bolded, is it?

Look at the photo of the product!

It will take you one second to google it!

It's written very clearly on the front of the packaging that it contains alcohol and it's listed in the ingredients.

Op bought it without reading the packaging!

It would also be unsuitable for anyone who avoids alcohol for religious reasons

Depends though. Has any processing such as heat removed the alcohol? If so, and it’s just flavour with 0% alcohol then there is theoretically nothing to declare and no problems re religious observance as it doesn’t contain alcohol at the point of consumption. If the alcohol content has not been removed then that’s different and should definitely be stated on the packaging!

Alcohol in a product needs to be clearly written on the packaging and highlighted in the ingredients list. I had to look at one of the posts with the product link and the words contains alcohol are hard to find. When you’re shopping you can’t stop to read small type for every product. I check the sell by date and ingredients so I would have noticed but not everyone has the time to read the fine print. Alcohol is a toxin and should be avoided and additionally there is no need to include it any food product.

The packaging says contains alcohol. The ingredients list alcohol.

On the product page on the sainsbury's website it aslo lists alcohol under "health". So that's 3 warnings.

At what point does someone need to take a degree of responsibility over what they eat, if that is not enough for you?

It was listed in the ingredients list, maybe you need to take responsibility for checking.

Maybe you could open the packaging and a pop-up springs out at you that says, contains alcohol! in case you missed all the other warnings? Meanwhile everyone else who needs to be careful about what they consume can just keep checking the ingredients label?

A ripe banana will contain more alcohol, food colouring & flavours eg vanilla essence contain alcohol.

The alcohol content will be traces & will do no harm. Its listed in the ingredients for people with moral or religious beliefs.

The type font is small and not located where it’s the first place someone looks at a package. As alcohol is a toxin it needs big type and located in an eye catching place on the package. It needs to be in bold in the ingredients list (I have not seen this list).

I honestly had to look 3 times to see it!!! I only saw it on the online ingredients bits not the packet

This, and again I honestly cannot believe that people are equating CHOOSING to have alcohol or not is the same as an allergy!!
Also re feeding this to a child, I'd be more worried about the caffeine content!

The use by date area is the place I absolutely look first.

OK maybe second after the product name.

It is not a top 14 allergen and so I'm pretty sure they can't bold it on the ingredients list as that would dilute the allergen messaging.

In the quantity that we are talking about, it's there as a flavouring, nothing more. If it was higher, it would be an age-restricted product.

I would happily give this pudding to my primary school aged kids and they would suffer no ill-effects whatsoever.

Listing it as bold would dilute the messaging for ingredients that can actually cause issues in people.

It’s mad that people are still saying it should state it contains alcohol .. IT DOES STATE IT CONTAINS ALCOHOL!!
OP just missed it … does no one read threads nowadays? Or even just skim through? There’s so many photos of the actual product packaging which shows CONTAINS ALCOHOL!!

phew, rant over 😆

Exactly

I really dislike boozy desserts so I'd be really pissed if I bought that and the most prominent taste was alcohol. Yea it's on the front but in tiny white writing which blends into the background. Even the description online doesn't mention the alcohol flavouring.

If I buy sticky toffee pudding I always check the ingredients because I hate dates and there's a reasonable expectation that a STP will contain them. I wouldn't think to check for alcohol on a hazelnut praline dessert!

Saying that, I'd take the tenner and leave it OP - get the Gü ones next time, they're delicious!

Congrats on your sobriety

I know! It’s the same with all threads, posters do not read all the posts and chime in with their two bobs worth of nothing.