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?

Christmas pudding. Tiramasu. Christmas cake. Fruit cake.

All of these typically contain a small amount of alcohol, in quantities which - like the delicious looking pudding under discussion - are in no way harmful at all.

As do some fruits, like bananas.

Someone who has a severe allergy to nuts can suffer serious harm from consuming a nut-containing product, and so it's right that such ingredients are labelled in bold. Labelling every ingredient people might object to that otherwise are not harmful in the quantities we are talking about would make the exercise completely pointless.

It does say it contains alcohol. On the front of the packet as well as in the ingredients list. Someone helpfully uploaded a picture pages and pages ago and the OP acknowledged that she missed it.

Plus, a tiny trace of alcohol is not the same as a tiny trace of an allergen. As far as I’m aware, nobody has ever died from consuming 2ml of Marsala wine.

Some people avoid alcohol for reasons of sobriety, some people avoid it for religious reasons.
And these are choices.

If there is any ingredient you can't have you either check the ingredients on absolutely everything or choose to accept a certain level of risk that you may end up ingesting some in a product where you wouldn't expect it to be present. Either way it is entirely your responsibility. The manufacturer has fulfilled their responsibility to make the information readily available, it is down to you to read the information. There are so many ingredients that people have to avoid for various reasons, we can't all demand to have big signs on the front of the packaging. Aspartame gives me migraines. It's annoying, but I just have to check everything. If I get a migraine from something I hadn't checked I assume it's my own fault for not checking.

It says it on the front of the packet and in the ingredients, what more would you suggest?

It's not an allergen, it's a life choice so people need to check!

Yabu. If you don't want an ingredient, yoy check the ingredients. In this case it appears it said 'contains alcohol' on the front of package. I totally get your annoyance and congrats on giving up alcohol but the shop and / or producers are not to blame here.

@Purpledefector
I agree
It definitely needs to say clearly on packaging on every food packaging whether it has alchol content,
For social and health reasons
even for cultural faith reasons i am thinking of Muslim or Morman religious faiths spring to mind,
Otherwise it's misleading somewhat at least

not mentioning this ingredient as its strong enough alchol to even be able to taste it.

Why can’t people read at least OPs updates? It did say it on the front, OP missed it

Don't worry about the cake.
WELL DONE YOU. 2.5 years sober.... focus on that.

@Noyesnoyes
No
"Its not just a lifestyle choice"

Its a health reason choice too, in regards of @Purpledefector post,
as alchol consumption can affect your physical health too,
Jaundice shakes and even grim reaper death too,

just like some people like myself who have the kinds of meds for health disorders in which any alchol is prohibited cause of adverse side effects..🚫

@marmiteoneverything Actually, consuming 2ml of Marsala wine would cause deep distress to my daughter and son in law as strict practising Muslims. I recognise this when I'm shopping for food thst they might eat when they are in our house and check all food labels carefully. It's not difficult to do.

Distress is not the same as death.

I agree that it should be in the description.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

It’s a toxin. That’s a good enough reason for bold type labelling

Not according to government guidelines. Only the 14 main allergens have to be in bold. If you had to do bold types labelling for any ingredient that could be a toxin/allergen, the whole list would be bold, which be a worthless exercise.

It had alcohol marked as an ingredient on both the front of the box, and in the ingredient list. That should be enough for anyone trying to avoid alcohol to spot.

Well read the front of the packet and the ingredients then 🤷‍♀️

But they'd live? Yes?

Sainsbury’s customer service has always been terrible in my experience.

I had to read the ingredients twice as didn't notice alcohol at quick glance.

So it wouldn’t kill them. Which was the point I was making.

If a little bit of alcohol in a pudding will affect your physical health to the point you will suffer with jaundice or die, try reading the ingredients properly?

It said contains alcohol both ON THE FRONT of the packet AND IN THE IMGREDIENTS LIST on the back.

And haven't they been AWFUL here! Imagine giving her money become she didn't read the box!

In that case I misunderstood. I though from the OP that it didn't say on the front of the packet.

I missed the updating post. If it's on the packaging clearly then all well and good. That was the issue I was concerned about.

Cooking would have removed alcohol content - and even if it hadn’t the amount in the pot would be negligible. They have apologised, given you money back and said they will look into their policies. All this over what seems to be a non-issue, or one where you are at fault. You don’t want any alcohol in your products, and the alcohol was a listed ingredient, but you didn’t check. It wasn’t significant enough to feature in the title also suggests there wasn’t much there. It’s like my DH is allergic to nuts, but I don’t expect every product that includes nuts to list that in the title of the product. It’s their obligation to include it in the ingredients list. They did that. You seem a little unhinged over this. What more can they honestly do here? Fly you first class to paradise as an apology? YABVU.