You found them in large numbers in your mailbox when you returned from vacation, and you went through them before doing your back-to-school shopping. They? These are the promotional catalogs, still popular with millions of French people — although they have been distributed less and less in recent years. And yet… while they remain very practical for finding the best deals of the week, the food products they highlight are not necessarily the best for our health.
This is what emerges from a shocking study by the CLCV (Consumption, Housing and Living Environment) association, which examined ten leaflets from five different brands (Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarché, Système U, and Lidl) between February and April 2024.
At the end of this painstaking work, his verdict is final: out of the 1,349 items studied, cold cuts, sugary drinks, cakes and other archetypes of “junk food” predominate, while products labeled “healthy” are far too rare, very far from the official recommendations of the National Nutrition Health Program (PNSS).
Cheese, biscuits, confectionery… 41% of the items on sale actually display a Nutri-Score D and E — remember that this graphic reference from A to E, present on packaging since 2017, provides information on the nutritional quality of a product. The “D” and “E” even represent 43% in Carrefour brochures, and 42% at Système U. Conversely, while the PNSS recommends increasing the proportion of fruits and vegetables, “only 3% of promotions target fresh fruits, 5% fresh vegetables and 2% cooked vegetables,” tackles the CLCV, which points out significant differences between the most virtuous brands (up to 16% for Lidl) and the others.
“Products on sale are often the best-selling ones.”
When asked, a distributor readily acknowledged that “the products on sale are not the best, but this is explained by the fact that they are often the best-selling and most competitive, like Nutella for example, and that these items are rarely the most virtuous”. Carrefour, for its part, defended itself by specifying, in particular, that its “loyalty program rewards customers who turn to healthy products”.
After visiting 600 supermarkets and hypermarkets in 61 departments, another consumer protection association, UFC-Que choisir, has made a similar observation on the subject of junk food. In 86% of the supermarkets concerned, “confectionery has returned to the checkouts”, despite a commitment to the contrary requested in 2008 by the Ministry of Health, indicates the association which, on this point, has not, however, noted any significant differences from one brand to another.
It is therefore becoming urgent to light counter-fires, point out these two watchdogs. “Our observation on the leaflets is all the more damaging as they remain a very popular tool for defending purchasing power,” regrets François Carlier, the general delegate of the CLCV.
In order to improve the nutritional quality of the items highlighted in these catalogues, the association is asking brands to include “at least 50% Nutri-Score A and B products” and for the public authorities to “ban promotions on Nutri-Score D and E items aimed at children”. In its anti-candy crusade, UFC-Que Choisir is also turning to the State, as well as to brands, which it is calling on “to immediately stop this irresponsible marketing”.
