Home brands just as tasty: Survey

8 Sep 2010, 1:15 pm   -   Source: AAP
0 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
0
Supermarket home brands were found to be just as nutritious in many cases. (Getty)

Supermarket home brands were found to be just as nutritious in many cases. (Getty)

A survey by consumer group Choice has found that supermarket 'store brands' are often just as tasty, as well as healthy - despite their low costs.

RELATED

Supermarket "store brand" food products often match premium labels for taste and nutritional value, as well as being much cheaper, a survey shows.

Consumer group Choice selected more than 160 food items and compared budget Woolworths Home Brand and Coles Smart Buys against Woolworths Select and Coles brands, Aldi products and other labels.

Choice also said several budget store brands rated well in a taste test, except for Coles Smart Buys, which rated poorly on a consistent basis.

"While the ingredients may have varied between the brands, for almost half the products we compared there was little difference in the nutrition content," Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said.

"In fact, depending on the product, supermarket private labels can be lower in unhealthy nutrients such as fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium."

In the survey, a basket of 30 leading brand items cost $125.48.

That was almost double the $63.51 for the same basket of Woolworths Home Brand products, $65.30 for Aldi and $65.88 for Coles Smart Buy items.

Mr Zinn said market leader brands topped only two categories for taste.

"But it's still important to compare the nutrition panels to determine if the supermarket brand product is a healthier choice and when we should stick with the big brands," he said.

"Some budget store brands can also pack a punch when it comes to sugar or fat content, which shows yet again that consumers would benefit from traffic light labels for fats, sugar and salt on the front of food packs."

Private label purchases account for more than 22 per cent of all grocery sales, Choice says.




 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.