It would be a little bit confusing to open a microwaveable pot roast and find a microwaveable meatloaf instead. However, it could be seriously problematic for people with food allergies, since while meatloaf has bread crumbs and soybean oil, pot roast doesn’t. That’s why the incognito meatloaf has been recalled. [More]
store brands
Kroger Drops Lawsuit Against Lidl Over Similar Store Brand Names
By 9.12.17
Are consumers likely to confuse one of Kroger’s store brands, Private Selection, with one of Lidl’s store brands, Preferred Selection? Kroger filed a lawsuit a few months ago against Lidl, a German chain opening its first stores on this side of the Atlantic, claiming that the store brand names were too similar. Now Kroger has dropped the suit. [More]
Wegmans Hash Browns Also Recalled For Possible Golf Ball Bits
By 4.27.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Golf balls and potatoes are both round, dimpled, and typically found on the ground. That’s about all they have in common, though, so the recall of hash browns produced by McCain Foods and sold under supermarkets’ private labels that may contain diced golf balls is still an interesting agricultural mystery. Now another retailer, northeastern chain Wegmans, has recalled its store brand hash browns. [More]
Golfers Losing Their Minds Over Costco’s Kirkland Brand Golf Balls
By 1.19.17
Last year, Costco slapped its Kirkland Signature label on some balls from a company called Nassau Golf, which had extras sitting around that it wanted to get rid of. The warehouse club sold them in containers of 24 for $30 and put them on the shelves, not realizing that it had created a sensation. [More]
59,203 Pounds Of Trader Joe’s And Al Fresco Chicken Sausage May Be Seasoned With Plastic Shards
By 4.21.15
A good chicken sausage is a nice mix of meat, seasonings, and the occasional vegetable in a casing. What is not supposed to be part of that blend of ingredients are shards of plastic, which are harmful to your teeth and don’t taste very good. Sausage sold under the Trader Joe’s house brand and the Al Fresco brand been recalled because it may have that problem. [More]
5 Costco Kirkland Signature Products May Be Just As Good As Name Brands
By 3.26.15
Costco members know they can often get a decent price on name-brand kitchen staples by shopping in bulk at the warehouse store. But if you’ve been ignoring the company’s store-brand Kirkland Signature line of products, you might be passing up on a chance to save even more without sacrificing quality. [More]
Can Store-Brand Ketchup & Mayonnaise Ever Taste As Good As Your Brand-Name Faves?
By 8.27.13
When I was a child, many of the items in my kitchen cupboard were in plain white containers with red and black block lettering, so I learned early not to be a brand snob — with a couple of exceptions. I am one of those people that turn into a sour-faced 4-year-old whenever I find my only ketchup and mayonnaise options are generic store-brand versions. But my cohorts at Consumer Reports claim that there are comparable, less expensive generics available for these and other pantry staples. [More]
Why Does Anyone Ever Buy Brand-Name Painkillers?
By 7.9.13
For everyday over-the-counter drugs like painkillers or allergy medicine, do you pick up the brand name, or a generic? Even if the inactive ingredients and binders are slightly different, the brand-name and store-brand meds that sit side-by-side on the shelf should have the same effects. One costs a lot less. So why does anyone buy name-brand over-the-counter drugs? [More]
Buying Generic Doesn't Save Shoppers As Much As It Used To
By 2.3.12
Used to be, back in the days of yore, shoppers looking for a deal in the grocery store could go for a generic store brand item instead of the more expensive name brands. But lately the gap between those two options has been narrowing, to the point where store brands sometimes even cost more than their previously pricier counterparts. [More]
Consumer Reports Tastes Store Branded Foods, Finds Some Are Just As Good
By 9.7.10
Name brands exert a strong power over shoppers: 17% of us think name brand foods are more nutritious, even though there’s little nutritional difference between the two categories. Consumer Report performed taste tests on several food categories to determine whether name brands tasted better than store brands, and found that in some cases the store brands actually won. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Strikes Store-Brand Sugar
By 12.9.09
The grocery shrink ray has struck bags of sugar in two different parts of the country. Bags that a rational consumer would assume contain five pounds of sugar–since they’ve contained five pounds of sugar for as long as most Americans can remember–now contain four pounds of sugar. Somehow, we don’t think that grocers are doing this as an effort to reduce Americans’ sugar consumption. [More]
