#Food #Grocery #honesty #ham #spread #Misleading
In the past, Nettavisen has written about ham spread full of water. Now it turns out that the type of meat can also surprise.
Nettavisen can reveal that several of the ham toppings consist of different pieces of meat from the pig, and not just from the ham.
The Consumer Council reacts. They believe the practice is misleading and that consumers may feel cheated.
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Real cooked ham
The word ham comes from the German word schinke, which means thigh in Norwegian. And Real cooked ham from Gilde only consists of meat from the pig’s thigh. Both Coop and , with chains such as Kiwi, Meny and Spar, confirm to Nettavisen that their ham spreads only contain meat from thigh pieces.
Admittedly, there is also book ham. And as this name suggests: Here the meat can come from the pig’s belly, that is, the meat from the side of the front body. Nettavisen has checked the prices and contents of a total of 39 ham spreads at Kiwi, Extra and Rema 1000.
Only one of these had the name Bogskinke.
All the others were called ham, peppered ham, real ham, family ham and the like. But none of these had the word “book” in the name.
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They also didn’t have the word “book” in the description on the package. The description stated, for example, clean-cut pork and clean-cut Norwegian pork.
Loin and loin meat
Nevertheless, it turns out that several of the ham toppings contain meat from several places on the pig.
Guild owner Nortura informs Nettavisen that it concerns two of their ham toppings, namely Thinnskård favorite ham and Familieskinke.
– For example, Family ham can contain other cut parts, such as neck and back, but also a share from the ham on the pig, writes communications advisor Thomas Sissener Bonafede in an email. He adds:
– This is stated in the ingredient list as clean-cut pork. Internally, we require a minimum of 50 per cent raw material from the ham in these variants, he writes.
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At our Ham spread can consist of meat from both pork and the ham on the pig, both of which are suitable for spreads.
There are also different types of meat in Familieshamkin from Nordfjord. The same applies to their Breakfast Ham.
– Our ham spread can consist of meat from both the pig and the ham on the pig, both of which are suitable for spreads, writes Nordfjord’s quality manager, Randi Støyva.
If it says “clean-cut ham from pig”, the content is meat from the ham, she explains. Otherwise, the ham can be a bit of ham and a bit of something else.
Huge price differences
The ham packages that Nettavisen has checked vary widely in price. The lowest price per kilo is just over NOK 130 and the most expensive just under five hundred NOK.
It turns out that even some of the most expensive ones consist of slightly different meat.
Kolonihagen has three ham varieties, of which only one actually contains only ham.
Kolonihagen’s Cooked ham and pepper ham consist of both ham and ham, Nettavisen is informed. These have a price per kilo of 399.00 and 443.33 respectively.
– Our three hams are among our best-selling products, which tells us that consumers appreciate the combination of taste, quality, the strictest standard in terms of animal welfare in Norway and that the hams are nitrite-free, writes innovation director at Kolonihagen, Arnt Ove Dalebø.
He otherwise does not explain why there is more than just ham in the ham, or why it does not say more about this on the package.
– We at Kolonihagen want to be transparent and therefore follow standard practice when it comes to product declaration, and those who want to read more about the products can go to their websites, he writes.
Worth noting is that First price ham only has ham meat. The same applies to Coop’s cheap product Xtra. Rema 1000’s cheap variant Prima also has bog meat in it.
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– Feeling cheated
In the regulations for meat products and meat products, it is stated that cooked ham can consist of both thigh pieces and leg. It is therefore legal to call ham ham even if the meat is from other parts of the animal.
The Consumer Council nevertheless believes it can be misleading, and is calling for better information and labelling.
– Consumers will read “ham” as if it comes from a piece of meat with certain qualities, she says, says Aysha Grönberg, nutritionist and senior advisor at the Consumer Council.
– Ham is lean meat and is considered a healthy topping. If the spread contains other parts of the animal, they can have consequences for texture, taste and nutritional content, she says.
The danger is that customers get a less healthy product than they think they have bought, she believes.
– If you think you are eating a lean meat product, which then turns out not to be, a consumer could feel deceived, she says.
– Misleading
Grönberg calls for honesty in the labeling.
– If it is made up of pieces of meat from other parts of the animal, it would be misleading to call it “ham”, she says.
– Having said that, there is nothing wrong with using as much as possible of the animal once it has been slaughtered, but then the consumer must also receive appropriate information about the content.
She has a clear message for the industry.
– We encourage manufacturers to provide as honest and good information as possible, for example by making it clear what the product actually contains close to the product’s name, she says.
– Not the same requirement
The manufacturers maintain that they follow the rules for labelling. Guild owner Nortura refers to the regulations that have been changed.
– Ham and other traditional products were previously protected and had rules for what they could contain and how they could be produced, says communications advisor Thomas Sissener Bonafede.
– This regulation was removed quite a few years ago, and therefore the same requirements for content and production method are no longer made, he says.
Clarified: In an earlier version of this article it was stated that bog is meat from the pig’s stomach. The correct thing is that this is meat from the side of the pig’s front body.
