lebensmittelklarheit.de: Consumer center for food
On lebensmittelklarheit.de, the consumer centers in Germany warn of food that misleads you as a consumer through incorrect or misleading advertising and labeling. Here we explain the principle of the consumer portal and name other ways you can find out about healthy and safe food online
Report questionable food online
- Lebensmittelklarheit.de is an initiative launched by consumer centers in 2011. Consumers can complain in the portal about foods that they deceive about their presentation or advertising - for example chicken soup with only microscopic portions of poultry or herbal soda, the "natural flavors" of which come from additives.
- The staff at lebensmittelklarheit.de then contact the manufacturer, who then has seven days to comment. The product is then published online with the complaint, the opinion of the consumer advice center and the manufacturer's feedback.
- You can already find around 500 products in the three categories "Deceived", "Modified" and "Allowed". In around a third of these, the manufacturers reacted to the complaints and changed the labeling or composition of the food complained about.
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Other sources of information on healthy or questionable foods
- The registered association foodwatch.de also campaigns for healthy and sustainable food, which consciously wants to act independently of the state and the food industry.
- Foodwatch also operates the site abspeist.de, which annually awards the "Golden Puff" for brazen food advertising lies.
Recommended food apps
- As a smartphone owner, you can also use the appropriate app to find out about the safety of food when shopping. You can look up what is hidden behind the cryptic E numbers for additives in the Android app "E numbers".
- iPhone users scan food and cosmetics with the "Codecheck" app. So you get nutritional values, a traffic light and other eco information. The "WWF Fish Advisor" provides information about fish species that have been bred or caught using sustainable methods.
Caution should also be exercised when buying clothes. In the next practical tip, we will show you how to recognize whether textiles were made by child.