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?

It is.

YANBU to expect better labelling because from what you've written, I wouldn't necessarily expect there to be alcohol.

YABU expecting more. What more do you want? The people who can make a change are being told of the issue...

Well done on your sobriety. On this though, it’s down to you to check ingredients, same as would be for anyone with an intolerance for an ingredient. they want to avoid.

My daughter has a beef allergy and oh my word it is so annoying when it's just listed as gelatine and not pork /beef
The same with sausage casings often labelled as pork or beef. The reality probably means they use both depending on what is available!

It's clearly states on the front that it contains alcohol!

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-chocolate-hazelnut-pots-taste-the-difference-2x95g?istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=mirwqtmpa&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utmsource=Google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=11354430451&utmmcontent=shopping&utmterm=%257Bsku%257D&utmmcustom1=106571615210&utmcustom2=759-449-0952&gaddsource=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw5v2wBhBrEiwAXDDoJQpR4BfKYevawNTRkTbOroJz5a6UOq6gMuEEVIcZ4IjUErqmz8cRxoC-7YQAvDD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Aaahhh, I hadn't RTFT. It is on the front of the pack. YANBU that the description could be better, but it's on the front of the pack. I'm not sure what else they needed to do.

Gone are the days of personal responsibility

I would expect much from this. My daughter has a long list of allergies and we bought 2 packets of filled pasta and my daughter took them out of the cardboard sleeves and there was no way of identifying which packet was which. It didn't make a difference to us and neither were suitable but I complained to the manufacturer and they were just a bit meh and said they would consider making the packets identifiable if they ever redo the packaging. The clear sleeves had a stamp with date and batch on all it would take would be to add the name to that

Give your head a wobble.

Not every product that contains nuts says CONTAINS NUTS in red on the front.

You have to read the ingredients list. Thats what it’s for.

Of course they should! Just like anyone with an allergy or intolerance has to! What a silly comment.

And it was clearly labelled. On the front and the back of the packaging.

Thanks! I hadn't spotted that. That makes a difference now it's been highlighted

That's funny you say that because my husband hates the taste of coffee- and it really doesn't mention that either.
It tasted like tiramisu. But the description is more like a Ferrari rocher type pud

It's on the front of the packaging though? And they have already said they are going to look into it.

It doesnt. I am on chemotherapy and I was told by my oncologist not to eat anything that has alcohol in it even cooked as it still remains and can cause liver issues with the chemo

If you can't eat something then it's on you to check it's not there.

It was written on the front . Let it go . There is nothing to pursue.

That's a lovely message xxx thank you xxx
I get the breaking the promise - interesting I'll I don't feel like that - probably because I had that last year when a restaurant served me an alcoholic espresso martini instead of a non alcoholic one. I was literally distraught. So I did a lot of contextualising and processing then.
I think I was more annoyed that I didn't have the lovely chocolate hazelnut pud I was expecting!

Agree, although I do suppose how a person manages things will affect if they do as suggested a thorough label check and take responsibility as some posters here have said they would .
I've seen some posters on mn say the full responsibility is on them to avoid alcohol, and others who won't meet in a venue that sells it and expect others to abstain in their presence.

But would you check a bottle of orange squash to see if it had nuts in it?
Actually I probably would if my child had an allergy, but my point is that it was so unexpected with the description.

When did you complain? Because this product does say "contains alcohol" on the front of the packet. Unless they've updated it very quickly it looks like maybe you just missed it.

@Purpledefector Are you going to email again to apologise and admit it was actually clearly labelled and you made a mistake?

Agree

I agree with you it should be more clearly labelled. I wouldn't expect a chocolate hazelnut pot to complain alcohol it is not obvious from the name or the description. I would expect the description to be "with a hint of brandy" or whatever it is in it.

Yes, we check everything. Reading ingredients has been an eye opener about processed food so I don’t blame you for being surprised by an ingredient. I had no idea of half the things that were in my food before.