In the minced steak section of supermarkets, manufacturers are redoubling their efforts to inspire confidence.
Many consumers admit to being lost when faced with names like “butchery style”.
Catchy mentions, but often misleading.
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Artisans from our regions
In supermarkets, it is difficult to navigate among the large choice of meats on offer. Hamburger packaging (new window) often include words that are attractive to the consumer, such as “butcher’s style”. However, few consumers know what this really means: “I don’t really know what that means, but it’s supposed to come from the butcher ready, whereas here, it has to be prepared in advance”tries a woman interviewed in the parking lot of a Bordeaux supermarket, in the TF1 news report at the top of this article.
With around one euro more per kilo, the price is in reality the only difference between a “butcher-style” minced steak, which seems more artisanal, and a classic minced steak. The client cited above denounces a marketing method: “It’s a scam, it’s done on purpose of course, because you’ll almost believe you bought it from the butcher, when not at all.”
This practice was already denounced in a report by the Foodwatch association (new window) in 2020: “The word ‘Butcher’s style’ on labels does not in itself justify an increase in price. Its use by manufacturers is not based on any transparent criteria and has no other aim than to mislead consumers,” she wrote then.
“These are not real hamburger steaks”
On other packaging from a very well-known brand, another surprise: the minced steaks are not even made from 100% beef, as required by regulations. On the packaging, the composition is very different: “75% beef, Charolais breed, chopped with seasoned vegetable fibers”reads a consumer in our report. Water, bamboo and pea fibers and even potato starch, for example, appear on the list of ingredients.
While two thirds of minced steaks sold in France are of industrial origin, artisan butchers confirm lower quality (new window) compared to what they sell: “The color is not appetizing, the chop is very fine, so you wonder if it’s just muscle. And it doesn’t smell good”criticizes Romain Rivalland, butcher in Gironde, in front of the industrial products that our team shows him. He sells this meat for 19 euros per kilo, compared to 16 euros in the supermarket.
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Co-president of the Gironde butcher’s union, François-Xavier Marques calls for the establishment of strict quality criteria for industrial steaks: “It especially hurts craftsmen, because we deceive customers.” In the meantime, informed consumers have only one solution: read the list of ingredients carefully before buying meat in supermarkets, without trusting the alluring mentions.
