Irwin's Bakery has been undercounting calories on their packaging for years

iHateAO

I've been buying Irwin's Potato Bread for years, all the way back to when it was still sold under the Rankin brand. I remember the calories clearly, because I calorie count to make sure I'm not overeating: 80 calories per bread, 320 calories per pack.

I noticed recently that it's now 130 calories per bread, which comes to 520 calories per pack.

I emailed them to ask what's changed, and this was their reply:

 

Our packaging has been under review, because of this several of our products across our bakery range have had some information updated based on recent nutritional analysis. I can confirm that there haven't been any changes to in house recipes. 

I emailed back to confirm that I'm understanding them correctly, that they've been printing the wrong information all these years, and... I'm stunned by the bullsh** excuse they've just given me:

Due to seasonal changes in potato crop  this will affect the nutritional information - this is something we monitor closely and amend where applicable based on nutrition testing and analytical results. 

I replied back saying this is clearly nonsense, no amount of "seasonal changes" is going to add an extra 200 calories to a product that is identical in weight and ingredients, but I've had no response. Just doing a rough calculation, that's around an extra 1000 calories I've been eating every week, for years. And they can't even own up to it and give a proper apology.

eskbanker

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

powerful_Rogue

Probably better suited to Praise, Vent and Warnings unless you have a specfic question.

What's a proper apology? A meaningless email from someone who clearly doesn't mean it.

iHateAO

eskbanker said:

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I guess what I'm wondering is if there's any recourse for the consumer. The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry. Do they just get to say "whoopsie" and change the label and that's it?

Keep_pedalling

iHateAO said:

eskbanker said:

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I guess what I'm wondering is if there's any recourse for the consumer. The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry. Do they just get to say "whoopsie" and change the label and that's it?

There are many things to be angry about in this world, but this isn’t one of them. 

eskbanker

iHateAO said:

eskbanker said:

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I guess what I'm wondering is if there's any recourse for the consumer. The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry. Do they just get to say "whoopsie" and change the label and that's it?

What else do you expect them to do?

powerful_Rogue

Things change over time. I'm guessing testing more accurately for calorific content is one of them.

If you're really that bothered about it - https://www.food.gov.uk/contact/consumers/report-problem/report-misleading-labelling

iHateAO

Keep_pedalling said:

iHateAO said:

eskbanker said:

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I guess what I'm wondering is if there's any recourse for the consumer. The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry. Do they just get to say "whoopsie" and change the label and that's it?

There are many things to be angry about in this world, but this isn’t one of them. 

There are laws around this for a reason. Are you so used to accepting less than the bare minimum? 

iHateAO

eskbanker said:

iHateAO said:

eskbanker said:

Fascinating, but without any obvious connection to consumer rights - perhaps one for this board:

Praise, vent & warnings — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I guess what I'm wondering is if there's any recourse for the consumer. The more I think about it, the more it makes me angry. Do they just get to say "whoopsie" and change the label and that's it?

What else do you expect them to do?

Not lie, for a start?

iHateAO

powerful_Rogue said:

Things change over time. I'm guessing testing more accurately for calorific content is one of them.

If you're really that bothered about it - https://www.food.gov.uk/contact/consumers/report-problem/report-misleading-labelling

Thank you for an actual useful comment. However, I don't think it's down to testing, otherwise why make an excuse about seasonal changes? I'm looking at similar products and if they were able to print the correct nutritional information, I don't think it's down to poor testing.

TELLIT01

I, and I suspect millions of others, have managed to get through life without worrying about the number of calories listed on a product.  Surely even calorie counters must realise that the figures are an estimate, not a precise number.