The grilled vegetable-herb mixture from a well-known Austrian company received an inglorious award. Because the opaque packaging is only about a third full, the product was awarded the negative prize by the Association for Consumer Information (VKI): the “Consumer Duck 2024”.
According to VKI, consumers found the airy, misleading packaging of Kotányi’s grilled vegetable spice mixture cheeky. Already in 2016 and 2020, Kotányi spice cans had negative results in a food inspection due to their small capacity.
Manufacturer: “Fluctuating volume”
In its statement, the manufacturer states that the volume varies depending on the type of spice. A certain degree of flexibility in the can format is therefore necessary. “Two-thirds of the air in a spice container is simply too much. The current disproportionality disappoints customers in terms of the amount of filling inside. “In addition, there is unnecessary waste of resources,” says VKI nutritionist Nina Eichberger.
Juice and pesto in second and third place
The Rauch Happy Day Coconut Pineapple Juice came in second. Instead of real coconut, which contains only 0.5 percent coconut water, consumers experience added flavor. “Aroma” in the ingredients list can refer to both flavorings based on natural raw materials – vegetable, animal or microbiological origin – as well as a synthetically produced flavoring agent. Rauch told the VKI that it was a natural flavoring, but would not provide information about the original raw materials.
The Rio Mare tuna pesto with pistachios and lemon came in third place and caused outrage with its composition. In addition to tuna (20 percent), pistachios (five percent) and lemon (two percent), it mainly contains green beans (about 37 percent) and olive oil. “At first glance, the packaging should make it clear what the main ingredients of the product are. This is not the case with Rio Mare pesto,” says Eichberger. The manufacturer sees no problem with the name and design, because according to him the green beans only play a minor role.
More than 7,000 consumers voted
Consumers who feel misled by the presentation, labeling or advertising of a product can report the product in question on the consumer magazine’s FoodCheck platform. Five products were selected from all published checks from September 2023 to September 2024 and offered for choice as part of the “Consumer Duck 2024”. In total, the survey registered 7,879 participants between the ages of 20 and 70.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
