The
Cheese-sounding
appears to be on its way to sunset after the Court of Justice’s drastic ruling. And here is a new fraud surfacing on supermarket shelves, the Cheese scam.
Cheese expresses a value that consumers can always recognize. Proof of this is its wide appeal on the labels and advertisements of a wide variety of products that even contain its aroma. From stuffed pasta to frozen pizza, snacks and ready meals. If there is cheese there is flavor, nature, value.
In processed cheeses, a glance at the most well-known brands is enough to identify at least a couple of trends. Stringy melted cheese-with the presence of mozzarella cheese-that is, flavorful, thanks to the contribution of Emmental, or Parmesan cheese. But what and how much cheese is it? Mystery, indeed fraud.
Fraud is widespread and recurs on both product variants. Where sottilette is presented with the name and image of a distinctive ingredient (e.g., mozzarella, Emmental)-whose perceived value is distinctive-but whose quantity is deliberately concealed. (1)
The desire to disguise the actual nature and value of the food is confirmed by the use of a ruse, which turns out to constitute outright deception to the detriment of the consumer. The ‘trick’ is to show the amount of the characteristic cheese in relation to the ingredient ‘cheese,’ rather than in comparison with the total ingredients fed into the final product.
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Some cases worthy of investigation by administrative and law enforcement authorities:
– ‘Row and Bottom Mozzarella‘ Sottilettas, Mondelez. Mozzarella quantity compared to total? Unknown,
– ‘Creamy Philadelphia Stuffed‘ Sottilettas, Mondelez. Philadelphia not even mentioned in ingredient list,
– ‘Santa Lucia mozzarella slices,’ Galbani (Lactalis). Share of mozzarella cheese in total ingredients? Unknown,
– ‘Emmental Milk Slices,’ Inalpi. Amount of Emmental out of the total n.a.
Cheese-scam, enough is enough! The phenomenon is as widespread as it is manifest, affects well-known brands, and can no longer be tolerated.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) As instead prescribed by reg. EU 1169/11, Article 22
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
