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?

Alcohol is not a toxin

Of course it is, but there are small amounts of toxins in lots of things we eat.

What does 'toxin' mean? Everything is toxic, in the right proportions.

What's mildly disturbing to me about this thread is that there are very many people who actually want someone to look after them and protect them. They want someone to take the sugar away, to lower the percentages, all the fat and salt sucked out of low tier comfort food.

It's that mentality that stops us having nice things.

I was wondering how much this kind of pudding could affect your blood alcohol content and found this research…

https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2018/dec/07/how-drunk-can-you-get-on-christmas-food-i-breathalysed-myself-to-find-out

I completely agree with this! Surely we all have to take some responsibility for our own actions and that includes the food/drink we consume!

See also never being able to get normal coke/pepsi anywhere. It’s all zero sugar - I have a glass once in a blue moon so I don’t need my sugar intake monitoring on my behalf! People are always looking to blame others for things they should be fixing themselves.

I think they could make it clearer perhaps on the front of the packaging that it contains alcohol. It would be awful to trigger someone into resuming their addiction when they have done so well on being sober.

Also food packaging info is crap generally. I only have a 1.25 reading prescription and can read tiny font clearly without my glasses if it's black font on white, but if it's yellow on light blue or something - no chance!

You'd also need to make sure they avoid fruit and fruit juice, bread, vinegar, and yoghurt.

I never said that it was all about me.
It's just people keep asking "how much more clear do people want it?"
So I'm explaining how clear some of us want it.
Because we've already stated how clear we would want it, and yet people keep asking.

Hope that helps!

So basically you can’t do anything for yourself and want the world to cater to you?

you do you hun xxxx

No, do you normally add 2 and 2 and come up with 765?

We were asked in regards to this one particular thing how we would like it to be made more clear, to which some of us responded. That's it.

Are you normally so ridiculous and dramatic?

Okay babes. You think what you want, but I mean seriously how much clearer can it be? It’s printed on the front and the back. It can hardly be called boozy whatever because then people would kick off it tastes more like coffee than booze. Sometimes we have to use our brains a little bit and actually take a bit of personal responsibility to look at what we’re consuming rather than doing things mindlessly.

Have a good day, hope you don’t have to have the horrible, challenging task of reading a label 💔

You just asked again how much clearer can it be 😂that's why people keep saying how it could be made clearer. Doh

Why don't you use your own brain seeing as you don't appear to be aware of how conversations develop? And you just once again asked the same question that you've just criticized me for answering 😂

Perhaps reading food labels is where you excel, but anything beyond that is too difficult.

Could you respond to the questions about why you think alcohol should be more clearly signposted than allergens which could kill someone?

I don't think it should be more clearly signposted than allergens which could kill someone!

However, I assume that those allergens are listed on the back in the same format that is shown on the sainsburys website (the back of the packaging isn't shown) and that people with life threatening allergies are meticulous about reading the ingredients list.

I certainly wouldn't be opposed to them being more clearly signposted if people with those allergies wanted it to be more immediately apparent when they were purchasing food though.

At present, the allergens are listed in the ingredients (in bold, as required).

The presence of alcohol is listed in the ingredients (not bolded as it's not a major allergen) AND on the front.

If the alcohol was more clearly sign posted, then it would most definitely be more prominently displayed than the allergens.

Why should people with life threatening allergies have more onerous requirements for label checking than people who choose to avoid alcohol (for many very valid reasons, obviously).

I don't think that they should have more onerous requirements for label checking. Presumably they are the way they are for consistency and because food companies then don't feel the need to go above and beyond so they just go along with what is legally required.

I just think if it's something that customers should know then yes it should be more visible even for flavour reasons alone because that would be consistent with how pretty much all other food is labelled. The name and description should give you a good idea of how it's going to taste.

The pudding was ' chocolate hazelnut pots' ' sponge biscuit layered with creamy chocolate hazelnut mascarpone and topped with hazelnuts and chocolate shavings'.

I hate hazelnuts so I would have immediately known that I wasn't going to like that, but if I did like hazelnuts I would have been seriously disappointed when I tasted it to know it tasted like alcohol because I hate desserts that contain alcohol.

I also would have been extremely disgusted by the coffee flavour, another strong polarizing flavour that isn't written on the front of the box but is on the sainsburys website. Perhaps it was on the back or side but that side of the packaging isn't visible on the site.

Sponge cake soaked in coffee sauce topped with chocolate and hazelnut cream and decorated with chocolate and hazelnut sprinkle

It seems for some reason they didn't want it to be immediately obvious it was going to taste like a tiramisu 😂

i think you were right to feedback but need to be more careful on checking labels

But presumably, people do check labels if they have intolerances

surely muslims check routinely for alcohol in products?

vegans check for animal products
people with allergies check ingredients

I completely agree it's down to the purchaser to check ingredients. No different to someone who has a peanut allergy.

NB. I have to do this for my husband due to his allergies. Whilst I sympathise and it is a pain in the neck, you soon master the skill of skim reading.

I understand that ANY alcohol for an alcoholic can be very serious indeed.

It should be labelled accordingly, just like gluten, dairy or nuts. I'd escalate it further: it's not about the tenner, it's about senior management changing a policy.

I think it's because avoiding the alcohol as posted waaay back is about feelings/choices/emotions which out weighs anaphylaxis of course in levels of seriousness....

You’re overthinking this.

They do and I'm sure she will after this.

Most people don't start checking food labels thoroughly unless something triggers the need to.

Lots of vegans wouldn't have checked until they turned vegan.
Likewise people with intolerances wouldn't have checked until they realised they had intolerances or what those intolerances are.

I assume you haven’t read the full thread as the answers are within it.

Labelling allergens in bold is down to law, an individual supermarket/management cannot change this and alcohol, which is not an allergen can’t be labelled the same as nuts for example.

Also,

IT. IS. LABELLED. Right ON THE FRONT OF THE PACKET!!!!!!

😫

It was rhetorical darling, but I suspect that’s above your comprehension 🫶 I am aware of how the conversation has developed - the majority of people have said it’s clear enough when it’s on the front AND back of the packaging. Bolds should be for the top allergens as other posters have mentioned and eloquently explained.