The supermarket own-brand rip-off

If you buy a supermarket's own-brand range rather than its value range you could be being ripped off. An investigation has found that in many cases there is no difference between value products and the own-brand versions.

An investigation by The Mirror has found that there is no difference in ingredients or nutritional value between some supermarket own-brand range products and their value versions.

Some products were found to have come from the same factory with the only difference being the packaging and the price. For example, Corned Beef by Sainsburys, priced at £1.75, and Sainsbury’s Basics Corned Beef £1.50 both came from the same factory in Brazil.

Many own brand products – including butter, cornflakes, UHT milk, corned beef and tinned potatoes – had the same ingredients, weight and nutritional values as the same store’s value ranges.

In another example, Tesco’s Everyday Value cornflakes cost 45p, while the same size own-label option costs £1, but they both had the same ingredients and identical nutritional information.

Morrisons’ Savers salted butter had the same ingredients, percentage of milk and salt, nutritional value and factory codes as its own-label version that costs 10p more.

Earn cashback on your next supermarket shop with these credit cards

10 identical products with different prices

Product	Own-brand price	Value price	Difference	% difference
Tesco 500g Cornflakes	£1	45p	55p	+122%
Morrisons 1l UHT skimmed milk	88p	57p	31p	+54%
Tesco 567g tin of new potatoes in water	65p	35p	30p	+86%
Tesco 340g corned beef	£1.75	£1.50	25p	+17%
Sainsburys 340g corned beef	£1.75	£1.50	25p	+17%
Sainsburys 1.5kg self-raising flour	85p	60p	25p	+42%
Asda 340g corned beef	£1.67	£1.47	20p	+14%
Asda 300g garden peas in water	40p	21p	19p	+91%
Morrisons 340g clear honey	£1.13	£1	13p	+13%
Morrisons 250g salted butter	£1.60	£1.50	10p	+7%

What the supermarkets say

A spokesperson for Tesco told the Mirror: “We want all our own-brand products [to] offer real value and are reviewing our approach to these.”

Sainsbury's said: “There are many factors which inform product specification. This will dictate the range it is in.”

Asda defended its pricing saying that the products may have the “same overall ingredients” but “gradings differ”.

Morrisons explained the price difference on its salted butter by saying: “Savers butter is sourced from inside and outside the UK. Standard butter will always be British”.

Meanwhile, the price difference on its UHT milk reflects the fact the higher priced product has “clever” packaging.

Other goods where brand doesn't matter

Regular loveMONEY readers will know it's an area we've covered on numerous occasions in the past.

In this earlier piece, we highlighted a broader section of supermarket goods where there is absolutely no benefit in paying for pricier brands.

Earn cashback on your next supermarket shop with these credit cards