While vacuum in packaging can protect and preserve food, some brands seem to use oversized packaging without any real interest. The consumer protection association Foodwatch has identified seven packages that are particularly empty, with a record of one E.Leclerc product consisting of 68% ... nothing.
"The following seven products are filled with an unnecessary void and the resulting 'overpackaging' is mainly intended to attract the eye on the shelves. This label scam misleads by giving the illusion of buying more than the reality. Moreover, this practice is totally at odds with necessary environmental efforts such as reducing the amount of packaging and thus waste"
The products targeted by this 'Full of Void' survey are: Barilla's Cereali e quinoa packet (60 % empty), Carrefour's Crunchy cereals (50 %), Monoprix basil herbs (35 %), Léa Nature's organic tabbouleh (58 %), Lipton's organic peach hibiscus green tea (43 %), Sojasun's soy steak (34 %), smoked salmon, sesame and E poppy cubes.Leclerc's smoked salmon, sesame and poppy cubes (68%).
And the association adds: "We are adamant that for every product that follows, there is at least one more filled equivalent on the supermarket shelf."
The organisation, which has been operating in France since 2013, is therefore launching a petition to stop having disproportionately large packaging that misleads consumers about the quantity purchased and uses material unnecessarily. Every day an email is sent with the new signatories to the managers of the brands pointed out.
