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?

There are a lot of opinions about this, but what really matters is was the food correctly labelled? I have had a quick look through the Government website and it looks as if Sainsbury’s complied with the legislation. You might like to Google this and check it out for yourself. You may or may not win a victory with Sainsbury’s over this one product, but if they have complied with the law, then it is quite possible that you will come across other products containing alcohol. As it is important you avoid alcohol, you really need to take responsibility for checking the ingredients list.

And you think the amount in these puddings would be detectable? Looking at where it sits in the ingredients list there's a maximum of half a teaspoon.

Yeah, it should have been labelled. Some people avoid alcohol for religious reasons so Sainsbury's could get in a lot of trouble there. Not to mention allergies.

IT WAS LABELED!! TWICE! FRONT AND BACK!!

Please can you point me to where the WHO classes is at a toxin? As well as where they classify tobacco and asbestos as toxins?
thank you

IT WAS POORLY LABELED

FRONT AND BACK!!

IT WAS LABELLED JUST AS WELL AS LIFE THREATENING ALLERGENS, SO IT WAS FECKING FINE.

I'D ARGUE THOSE ARE POORLY LABELLED TOO

HOW BIG DO YOU WANT PACKAGES TO BE.

(Getting tired of all this shouting, about to lose my voice.)

THE PACKAGE CAN STAY THE SAME SIZE BUT THE FONT SIZE CAN BE BIGGER (AND ALSO IN BRAILLE PLEASE)

(Yeah me too)

Just need this on everything!

Have a look on the internet. You can search for WHO alcohol toxin tobacco asbestos carcinogenic

I did look. I checked the WHO site and it didn’t say it was a toxin

I suggest you check again.
Do provide a link from a reputable source to back up your statement that ‘alcohol is not a toxin’

@NoBinturongsHereMate I didn't know that at the time of commenting.

In fairness it's much easier to provide a link showing a statement rather than the absence of a statement.

Presumably you're very young! You don't get carded for alcohol unless you look like you could be under 25 . Most adults can buy alcohol with no id required!

Also it's legal to sell food containing alcohol to under 18s as long as the percentage is less than 0.5% as presumably this pudding is.

Interestingly the upper limit for alcohol free beer has reduced from 0.5% to 0.05% since we left the EU. Another example of how we are much better off outside the EU, clearly!

Here we are -
https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
Quotes from the WHO.
“Alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer decades ago – this is the highest risk group, which also includes asbestos, radiation and tobacco. “
“To identify a “safe” level of alcohol consumption, valid scientific evidence would need to demonstrate that at and below a certain level, there is no risk of illness or injury associated with alcohol consumption. The new WHO statement clarifies: currently available evidence cannot indicate the existence of a threshold at which the carcinogenic effects of alcohol “switch on” and start to manifest in the human body.”

Here you go. Second paragraph. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health#:~:text=Alcohol%20is%20a%20toxic%2C%20psychoactive,includes%20asbestos%2C%20radiation%20and%20tobacco.

It was the first result on Google so don't think you tried very hard

"Toxic" means the same as "is a toxin" for the avoidance of doubt

I have checked again and it absolutely doesn’t say it’s a toxin.
https://www.quora.com/Could-alcohol-be-classified-as-a-poison-or-toxin
this link says it’s not

For the avoidance of doubt, toxic doesn’t mean “is a toxin”
Everything can be toxic at the right dose. Very few things are toxins

I suggest you take up your opinion that “alcohol is not a toxin” with the WHO. They will no doubt be happy to provide you with the information you need. I doubt that the Quora link is up to much / I never click on stuff like that.

@DoreenonTill8 @CelesteCunningham
There’s no point, there’s no point!!! I’ve already lost half my hair and half my brain cells….

Or perhaps I lost half my brain cells on the lovely cold glass of Pinot I’ve just devoured.

I’m really not sure after reading this thread but someone MIGHT have mentioned alcohol is a toxin?? But I’m sure it was only mentioned briefly 🤣

@BubblegumBlue24 did you check for alcohol in your pinot?... did the label say TOXIN?!