An investigation reveals discrepancies in Tesco’s Aldi price-matched products.
- Tesco claims price parity with Aldi, but insiders find ingredient disparities.
- Analysis shows Tesco products often contain less of key ingredients compared to Aldi.
- BBC Panorama highlights specific Tesco products with significant ingredient differences.
- Some Tesco items do have more key ingredients, yet overall disparities remain.
An in-depth examination by BBC Panorama has uncovered significant discrepancies in Tesco’s products, which are marketed as price-matched to those of Aldi. Contrary to Tesco’s claims, investigations revealed that numerous Tesco items contain markedly less of key ingredients than their Aldi counterparts.
Specifically, Tesco’s chicken nuggets were found to comprise only 39% chicken, in stark contrast to Aldi’s version, which contains 60% chicken. Similarly, Tesco’s chicken kievs contain just 44% chicken compared to Aldi’s 57%, and Tesco’s chilli con carne has merely 15% beef, whereas Aldi’s has 27%.
Out of 122 grocery items, 38 Tesco products were identified to have at least five percentage points less of their main ingredient compared to Aldi equivalents. Notably, Tesco counters this claim by stating that higher content of a single ingredient does not necessarily signify superior quality, and they continue to review their product quality consistently.
Despite these findings, BBC Panorama reported that some Tesco items indeed have a greater proportion of main ingredients compared to those at Aldi. However, this was not sufficient to establish a consistent pattern of equivalency. Tesco emphasizes its robust processes in ensuring product quality remains high while meeting price match commitments.
The analysis predominantly focused on five products with the most significant ingredient differences, which included chicken nuggets, chicken kievs, chilli con carne, cottage pies, and apple and blackcurrant squash. BBC Panorama’s findings spotlight the complexity of comparing product quality solely based on ingredient percentages.
In sum, while Tesco’s price match initiative suggests parity with Aldi, the ingredient content reveals significant disparities.
