Overview

• The watchdog’s new list features about 40 products from retailers like Netto and Kaufland with reduced expensive ingredients, including hazelnut spread cut from 20 percent to 13 percent and ketchup switched from double to single concentrated tomato paste.
• Consumer advocates warn that shoppers pay the same prices for lower-quality goods and say vague claims like “new recipe” conceal substantial formula changes.
• Under current EU and German rules, manufacturers need only list ingredients, allowing recipe swaps to go unmarked beyond standard labels.
• Christoph Minhoff of Lebensmittelverband Deutschland defends recipe tweaks as necessary reactions to soaring raw material prices and supply chain challenges.
• Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg is calling for legally binding requirements on recipe-change disclosures to improve transparency and rebuild consumer trust.