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?

So the words “contains alcohol” would not make you expect the product to contain alcohol?

If you have special dietary requirements (regardless of whether that's religious, allergies, preference etc) the onus is on YOU to check the ingredients.
DD has a dairy allergy. We check all packaging of everything; you wouldn't believe the products they add dairy to. That includes e.g handwash, wine (she obviously doesn't drink but when I was breastfeeding I had to avoid all dairy), etc.
Next time just check the packaging properly. They can't put warnings on it for absolutely everyone; can you imagine.

It’s somewhere between 3.5% and 1% alcohol, so probably less than half a teaspoon. I don’t think it would be any sort of health issue to give them to under 18s, which is probably why it’s not mentioned.

I agree it should be in bold in the ingredients though, so that people who avoid alcohol for whatever reason can identify it easily. That said, it does say the sponges are soaked in coffee sauce and coffee sauce does often have alcohol in it.

I can understand you missing it in the shop, but to have missed it again when you reviewed the pack before emailing Sainsbury’s….🤦‍♀️

In the case of this particular product it even says contains alcohol on the front too, what else do you suggest!

I can't believe those arguing for dairy and alcohol to be treated the same. Alcohol is a drug. It should be very prominently in the description on the front. I missed it too, OP, could easily have given a spoonful of this to a child.

It's the 'taste the difference range'

They need to do SOMETHING different to it so I would expect alcohol or another strong flavour so it stands out taste wise

Alcohol is a drug?

Oh no! How are you feeling? I'm sorry this happened, you're doing really well staying sober, don't let it knock you!

You should definitely pursue this so that they understand it is very serious for people in your situation. But not if it's going to make you think about alcohol too much x

@ImVanillaBaby yes?

Well, seeing how if my son eats / comes into contact with his allergen it could kill him at worst and result in the use of an epi pen/hospital stay at best, they are a bit different. OP has been mildly inconvenienced and has written a couple of emails. Its not really the same is it?

Yet I look at the back of every single product i buy to make sure it wont kill him. OP needs to do the same.

As I said above there's alcohol in loads of innocuous things. If the alcohol goes above a certain (low) level it is restricted and can't be sold to under 18s etc.

If you're not happy with alcohol below that level then you need to read the ingredients just as many of us do for allergies as well as dietary restrictions that are by choice.

How awkward for you. Making all that fuss and it was actually displayed on the packaging.

Side note, but I find it bizarre that I got asked for ID recently buying 0% alcohol beer.

But I’ve never been IDd for a pudding 😂

Not to mention the fact that some people can die from ingesting the tiniest bit of dairy. A school boy in the UK died when a piece of cheese was thrown at him.

And precisely NOTHING would have happened to the child other than them probably saying they didn’t like the taste.

Off topic but that makes me go cold.

My boy has a severe egg allergy and it just takes one person thinking its funny on Halloween and he could die.

Absolutely horrendous for that family and poor boy🩷

This is not true. Cooking removes some alcohol but not all.

Anybody who knows anything about design will tell you that the placement and colour of "contains alcohol" on that packaging is wholly inadequate and does not draw the attention at all. It's reckless on a dish that doesn't traditionally contain alcohol.

I shop a lot in Sainsburys, but if they're going to hide behind "it's technically there if you look hard enough for it", then I'm going to go shop elsewhere that doesn't require me to scour every single item on my way around the store for vital yet subtle disclosures.

Yes it should say clearly that it contains alcohol

We have pretty good food labelling laws in the UK. It's not alcoholic enough to be restricted, and alcohol is clearly listed in the ingredients so I think it's fine.

I agree the wording on the front doesn't add much and isn't prominent, but it's still a hell of a lot more than products with peanuts tend to get and they'd put my DC in an ambulance. Very few products list the top 14 allergens prominently on the front, you need to check the ingredients.

Which it does on the front of the truck packaging.

YABU it says “contains alcohol” quite clearly on the front of the packet and has it listed in the ingredients list. What else do you expect them to do??

It's on the front of the packaging and listed in the ingredients and it will be a negligible amount of alcohol.

At some point, consumers need to take some degree of personal responsibility for actually, y'know, checking what it is they are putting into their mouths.

Theres no requirement to label alcohol/alcohol free on the front of the packaging.
You need to become familiar with which products typically contain alcohol and check the ingredients (the same as anyone else who wanted to avoid certain ingredients).
Your main issue will be deserts, Christmas food and ready meals like lasagne shepherds pie etc.