'Fat Free' gelato in Amorino - that's not fat-free at all!

[allchange5]

I realise this is hardly a world crisis but...

Does anyone know the gelato place 'Amorino' (there are a few in London, not sure if it's nationwide though)? They have a whole range of gelatos and sorbets - one of which is labelled as "100% fat free yogurt."

AIBU to expect this to be what it purports to be - ie. 'Fat free yogurt?'

As it turns out, it's not 'fat free' at all. Rather, less than 10% of it is 'fat free yogurt powder.' The rest is basically full fat milk and whatever else is in all the other gelatos displayed in this shop.

On this basis, they may as well advertise the strawberry or mango or any other fruit varieties of their gelato as 'fat free' - on the basis that fruit is fat free.

Again, not a world crisis, but I'm surprised they can get away with advertising something as 'fat free' when actually there are about 9g of fat per 100g. Don't trading standards have laws around this type of false product description? No nutritional info is visible in the shop.

They are saying that gelato is made with 0% fat yoghurt. The same as the strawberry one is flavoured with strawberries.

But if it's not a nutritional claim, why not say "yoghurt" flavour, particularly as it sounds less tasty if it's the flavour of fat-free yoghurt?

This is where I can't quite follow the logic.

It sounds just as possible that it's a nutritional claim as it does that it's a flavour claim.

Plain yoghurt is a flavour. It’s saying it tastes like plain yoghurt. It’s not saying it’s solely a fat free frozen yoghurt, it’s very clearly not.

Well because it’s not full fat yoghurt flavoured gelato? That would be misleading,

But the yogurt flavour is produced from yogurt powder which is less than 10% of the overall gelato content. Whether this powder is 0%, 25% or 100% fat isn't going to make any difference - when the other 90% is full fat milk!

Again, the fruit gelato flavours have more than 10% 'fat free' fruit in them. These are not advertised as "0% fat strawberry."

This company is being deliberately misleading and trying to position this as a 0% fat 'fro yo' product - like Snog or other similar brands. It's not the end of the world, but I find it disingenuous when a high street brand cynically label and try to sell something as '0% fat' when it is anything but!

I was in the shop and heard a group of teen girls ordering it and saying they had it every day after school because it's fat free!

Gosh you’re really worked up about this. No one describes strawberries as fat free. However fat content for yoghurt is common,

Totally irrelevant. Your personal tastes are neither here nor there.

If something is labelled as fat-free, then it should be just that. Same as something labelled gluten-free, nut-free, containing x grams of protein or whatever - that is an absolute state which is measurable. Not one of those terms like natural, low calorie, reduced fat which can mean different things.

I would complain @allchange5 , this is false and misleading advertising.

That is misleading. I try to lower my sat fat due to v high cholesterol so labelling of fat is important to me!

The ad text is clearly carefully chosen to not be technically inaccurate but still give the impression it’s fat free when it isn’t. I don’t think most people would think it’s just a flavour. Shows the intent to be misleading in my opinion. The Deliveroo text is even more misleading (no “made with” etc). Whether the ASA would be bothered I don’t know.

Me too. I would be misled by this claim. It is designed to mislead.

I thought this was going to be about the brilliant Seinfeld episode with Rudy Giuliani where 'fat free' frozen yoghurt causes everyone to gain weight and creates a city wide scandal. Season 5, episode 7 on Netflix, it's hilarious. And they agree with you OP, everyone is furious!

It is clearly designed to mislead, agree with you OP

Yes it’s misleading (and quite a weird concept tbh… it probably doesn’t taste like fat-free yogurt by the time it’s been mixed with other fatty ingredients).
While it may seem trivial, this might be a genuine problem for someone with a health condition (gall bladder disease?) who has to limit fat.

This is why you need to ignore any marketing claims and always check the nutritional info and ingredients. I’m trying to eat more protein, and I’m always shocked at how seldom ‘high protein’ products live up their claim. They are also often far more expensive and loaded with sugar.

I’ve now become that person who looks on the back of every packaged product before putting it in my trolley!

I love that episode!!!

Plain yoghurt can be full-fat, low-fat or fat-free though.

It's not simply saying it tastes like plain yoghurt, it's saying it specifically tastes like fat-free plain yoghurt, but with added fat from the other ingredients, so you can't tell how that's affected the taste, if the fat content of one ingredient in powdered form is indeed indicative of a very particular flavour, as some are arguing on here!

Because some of us are quite happy with "fat free"

HTH

Why would a fat free product need an emulsifier anyway? Their purpose is to compatibilise oils/fats with the aqueous ingredients.