Tough times are driving many people to cheaper, generically branded food, but it could be at the cost of their health, the National Heart Foundation says.
Early results of a foundation analysis comparing generic products with branded goods show the cheaper in-house brands generally contain significantly more salt, saturated and trans fats and more calories than branded products.
Concerned that the supermarket chains are increasingly loading their shelves with home brands in an era when consumers are tightening their purses, the foundation has analysed 5000 packaged food products, including canned food, margarine, breads and breakfast cereals.
Dr Lyn Roberts, the foundation's chief executive, told the National Press Club yesterday that more than 60 per cent of consumers said they had switched to cheaper supermarket brands.
Dr Roberts said if the rising incidences of obesity, diabetes and physical inactivity continue, cardiovascular death rates could begin to rise, after years of decline.
One reason for this is the pressure on shoppers to be influenced by clever marketing.
The number of products with the Heart Foundation tick had failed to increase at the same rate as that of the number of choices confronting supermarket shoppers.
"Cheaper foods often equal cheaper, less healthy ingredients such as cakes, biscuits, and fried chicken cooked in cheap imported palm oil laden with saturated fat," Dr Roberts said.
Palm oil, used for frying and in products such as biscuits, ice cream and chocolate, contain 55 per cent saturated fat, compared with about 12 per cent in sunflower-canola blend oil.
Woolworths has challenged the findings, claiming that branded and unbranded products were often identical.
"In many instances, supermarket private label products are exactly the same as the branded equivalent: same ingredients, same recipe, same factory, same manufacturer," Luke Schepen, a spokesman for Woolworths, said.
He said the company benchmarked its products against those of branded competitors regularly, "to ensure we can match or better them in terms of quality, ingredients, nutritional content and value."
Coles's response was not available as this report went to press.
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