Tesco under fire as Aldi price match 'not like-for-like'

A Panorama investigation has raised concerns over the ingredients in Tesco items included in the Aldi price-matching scheme.

Items highlighted in Tesco's price-matching scheme with Aldi are often not like-for-like, a BBC Panorama investigation has claimed.

The programme looked at 122 Tesco groceries and found that 38 had at least 5% less of the main ingredient than the equivalent price-matched items at Aldi.

It did, however, note that 12 Tesco items contained more of the main ingredient than Aldi.

Difference in ingredients

The investigation found that Aldi chicken nuggets contained 60% chicken breast, while Tesco’s Hearty Food Co range had a comparatively small 39%.

It was a similar situation with coconut milk. While Aldi’s coconut extract level came in at 40%, Tesco’s was 22%, according to the programme.

Other examples include:

• Tesco chicken kievs – 44% chicken; Aldi – 57%.

• Tesco cottage pie – 18% beef; Aldi Inspired Cuisine cottage pie – 25%.

• Tesco Stockwell & Co chilli con carne – 15% beef; Aldi Bramwells chilli con carne – 27%.

• Tesco No Added Sugar DS apple blackcurrant squash – 6% fruit juices from concentrate; Aldi Sun Quench Double Strength apple and blackcurrant squash – 20%.

In response, Tesco said it constantly reviewed the quality of its products and insisted that just having a higher proportion of any one ingredient didn’t necessarily mean it was better quality.

Panorama also investigated price-matching promotions at Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, but said it didn't find clear evidence of any inconsistencies in their amounts of main ingredients compared with Aldi.

Packaging issues at all supermarkets

Another area the investigation tackled was the use of oversized packaging for comparatively small portions and then sticking huge labels over the empty space.

Examples of this were found at various major supermarkets.

Retail analyst Kate Hardcastle told the BBC programme that this technique gave the impression that the product was bigger than it was.

In their defence, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s emphasised that weights or volumes were clearly labelled so that customers could make informed decisions.

This is just one of many ways shoppers might be misled when doing their weekly shop, as we highlighted in this article on the 5 ways supermarkets rip you off.