The consumer defense organization Foodwatch analyzed the sugar content of 12 categories of products sold in supermarkets, according to their price range. Result: the cheapest ones are sweeter, she denounces in a study published Wednesday.
Example: the 5 cheapest canned peas selected by Foodwatch contain on average 3.88 g of sugar per 100 g of product, compared to 2.72 g for the 5 most expensive ranges of canned peas.
Worse, the 5 cheapest variations of mayonnaise analyzed by Foodwatch contain on average 3.44 g of sugar per 100 g of product compared to 0.67 g for the 5 most expensive mayonnaises, or more than 4 times more.
Same observation for guacamole and pizzas – frozen or not – whose average sugar content is at least twice as high for the 5 least expensive products as for the 5 most expensive products analyzed by Foodwatch.
The NGO repeated these observations for other products, such as cordon bleu, pesto or rusks, and obtained a similar result. In total, more than 400 products were analyzed.
“If your budget is tight, you won’t be able to make the best choice for your health”was alarmed Audrey Morice, campaigns manager at Foodwatch, quoted in a press release.
Foodwatch certified to AFP that it had selected these 12 product categories because they were “easily comparable” et “that consumers did not expect to find sugar there”and did not set aside product categories whose results would not have been in line with their general conclusion.
In most cases, the cheapest ranges selected by Foodwatch, with the most sugar, are those of distributor brands.
“Distributors bear responsibility for this biased and discriminatory offer”regretted Audrey Morice.
The NGO initiated a petition to ask “5 main distributors” French companies (Auchan, Carrefour, Coopérative U, E. Leclerc and Intermarché) to review the recipe for their own brand products. It had received nearly 6,000 signatures as of early Wednesday afternoon.
For Carrefour, “private brand products are not necessarily sweeter”challenged the distribution giant to AFP. “It all depends on the recipes. »
By 2026, “we have set ourselves the objective of removing 2,600 tonnes of sugar (…) from all Carrefour brand products”added the brand, which specifies having removed, “to date, 261 tonnes of sugar. »
When contacted, Auchan, Coopérative U, E. Leclerc and the Les Mousquetaires group (Intermarché) did not respond immediately.
Foodwatch told AFP to meet soon with the Minister of Labor and Health, Catherine Vautrin, at the latter’s suggestion, to “move forward on this issue”.