Private label food products are popular with supermarket customers because of their lower prices, but can contain potentially harmful additives, according to a survey by 60 million consumers published on Thursday, which found significant disparities between brands.
The study by the magazine published by the public institution Institut national de la consommation (INC) is based on data from 3,000 to 6,000 products referenced by the Open Food Facts database, from six distribution brands: Auchan, Carrefour, Intermarché, E. Leclerc, Lidl and Coopérative U, in metropolitan France.
First observation, the popularity of these products, compared to those of major brands, is significant and has increased thanks to the strong price inflation in 2022 and 2023.
Private label products are on average 20 to 30% cheaper than their branded equivalents, even if these ranges of food products have also seen their prices increase: between 2021 and 2024, the increase is even greater for low-cost products (+26%) and private label products (+20%) than for their equivalent among national brands (+15% on average).
Another issue: products displaying a Nutri-score (the main nutritional quality index) of "E" or "D", the lowest values, are in the majority on the shelves. This is due in particular to additives, to health risks that are still poorly understood: emulsifiers, nitrates and antioxidants are commonplace in the composition of these "low cost" foods, points out 60 million consumers.
"Their presence is not prohibited," recalls Sylvie Metzelard, editor-in-chief of the magazine, "but recent studies show that these additives can cause problems such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases, particularly emulsifiers."
Although Auchan and Carrefour are doing better in this area, with Lidl and Intermarché appearing as poor performers, "the overall picture is rather bad", the study points out. Out of 30 of the most commonly sold products, only four receive a "good" rating compared to eight "very bad" scores, across all brands.
"We see that some brands can do without additives altogether, while other brands will put two or three in the same product," notes Sylvie Metzelard, who recalls a "golden rule": "always check the composition of foods" on the packaging.
In terms of price, the products sold in E.Leclerc stores are 5.5% cheaper than the average of all products sold across all ranges, followed closely by Carrefour (-2.7%) and Intermarché (-2%) while the products sold in Monoprix are on average 16.7% more expensive.
"There has still been a drop in prices since the beginning of the year," notes Lionel Maugain, section editor at INC, who underlines the "undeniable deflationary effect" of the acquisition of the Casino chain of stores: "in 40% of the stores taken over, prices have dropped by 30% on average."
It should be noted that Lidl and Aldi are absent from this ranking, with 60 million consumers arguing that their high proportion of distributor products makes comparison with other brands difficult.
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