It's good when store shelves are full of goods. Lots of products, the labels of which say "Eco", "natural composition", "made according to GOST" and other enticing things.
It's bad that some of these products are outright counterfeits, which at best "eat" your money, and at worst can harm your health.
Let's take a look at the most counterfeit products in Russia and find out how you can verify their authenticity.
10. Red caviar
This delicacy is a real storehouse of nutrients. It is rich in iodine, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, vitamin D, B vitamins, calcium and potassium. But all these natural riches are not available if you purchase a fake made from seaweed and gelatin.
How to recognize a fake:
- To choose the best red caviar, you can focus on the rating of Roskachestvo.
- When buying, pay attention to the composition, it should not contain gelatin, eggs, oils and milk. And there should be the name of the fish from which the caviar, salt and a couple of preservatives were extracted. For example, E400 (aka glycerin) and E200 (so that bacteria do not "start" in the caviar).
- At home, the easiest way to recognize a fake is to throw a couple of eggs into boiling water. If the egg has lost its shape and began to dissolve, it means that this is not real caviar. Eggs from real fish will not change shape, and the protein in it will curdle.
9. Sour cream
Beautiful bright sour cream jars beckon to take them off the shelf. However, some of these products have little in common with the classic sour cream made from cream and sourdough.
They contain vegetable fat instead of animal fat, and soy protein instead of milk protein.
How to recognize a fake:
- To check the naturalness of sour cream, you need to dissolve a small amount of it in boiling water. The fake will precipitate, the natural product will completely dissolve.
- If possible, try to buy sour cream from a local producer, as it is economically impractical for him to produce a counterfeit product designed for local consumers.
8. Honey
It is one of the most popular counterfeit food products not only on the Russian but also on the world market. Moreover, you can buy "linden honey" not only in a shop, but also at a rural fair.
They add water, starch, sugar syrup to it, sell old honey that has already been melted several times, devoid of any nutritional value. And these are far from the only ones, but only the most widespread methods of honey counterfeiting.
How to recognize a fake:
- Good honey should be free of foam, and its taste should be sour (a sign of an unripe or spoiled product).
- Real honey has a rich smell, and the more syrup it contains, the weaker the smell.
- Rub a drop between your fingers to determine the naturalness of thickened honey. Feel the roughness and grains? It is sugar processed by bees. If it feels like you are rubbing fat, this is real honey.
7. Shrimp
When we buy frozen shrimp, we buy frozen water with them. After all, these crustaceans are frozen immediately after capture.And one "shrimp kilogram" can contain from 10 to 40 percent ice.
On the package with shrimps their humming is indicated - that is, the number of shrimps per kilogram. For example, 100/200 (that is, in one kilogram from 100 to 200 pieces of shrimp). But this is true only if the shrimp is unpeeled. But if the shrimp is peeled or headless, then the numbers indicate how many shrimp are contained in 1 pound (0.45 kg).
Another problem with shrimp is that when bred in the coastal zone, they are usually pumped with antibiotics (most often - chloramphenicol). So these crustaceans get sick less.
How to recognize a fake:
- It is best not to use peeled shrimp, as they may be tinted fish fillets.
- Buy only Atlantic shrimp, they have the least amount of antibiotics.
- If the bag of small shrimp is heavy, there will likely be ice under their shells.
- If these are not real shrimps, but their imitation, this is usually indicated on the label, so read the product description carefully.
6. Saffron
One of the most popular and expensive spices in the world, it imparts beautiful color and aroma to dishes. It also has a preservative effect, and food prepared with saffron can be stored for several days.
However, the cost of real saffron seasoning is very high. And this is not surprising, because the production of one kilogram of spice takes 200 thousand sowing crocus flowers.
How to recognize a fake:
- Real saffron gives the water a deep red-orange color. Substitutes (turmeric and safflower) - yellow.
- 90% of saffron is produced in Iran, and it is also grown commercially in India and Spain. Therefore, when buying saffron, pay attention to the country of origin.
- Smell the spice on offer if possible. Real saffron has a very intense aroma with a slight bitterness.
- Saffron is expensive, 1 gram will cost 400 rubles and more.
- It is advisable to buy saffron in the form of threads, they are dark orange in color, thinned on one side and slightly flattened on the other. But they do not have curvatures and fringes.
5. Sausage and sausages
Products so beloved by Russians are also the favorites of dishonest manufacturers. Not enough meat? No problem! But starch - oh, how much!
And instead of pork and beef, they put cheaper meat - chicken. Yes, and they do not pamper them, and sausages, the name of which contains the word "Chicken", in fact, can contain no more than 10% of chicken meat.
How to recognize a fake:
- The further from the beginning of the composition is the ingredient (the same chicken meat), the less it is there.
- The shorter the composition, the better. Ideally, it should contain: meat, salt, water and spices. The more ingredients in the composition, the less meat in sausages and sausages.
- The stronger the sausage smells, the worse. They usually try to disguise a spoiled product or sausage with a lot of soy using aromatic spices.
- The surface of a good sausage should be flat, without a watery base, and the pieces of lard should be the same size.
- It is better to buy sausage made according to GOST, and not according to TU. Because in the second case, you agree that it can contain no more than 50% meat, and the rest is soy, starch, dyes and artificial flavors.
4. Bread
Lush bread with a fragrant crust and snow-white crumb is a delight for the eyes of customers and number 1 in any food rating... However, the virgin whiteness of the “inner world” of bread may be the result of the use of so-called “improvers” (urea, sodium pyrosulfite, calcium peroxide, etc.), which are used to bleach flour.
And even if you buy black bread, you can run into a fake. Instead of natural, you may come across bread dyed with synthetic dyes.
And, finally, instead of premium flour, unscrupulous producers use 1st grade flour. Here, unfortunately, it is possible to determine the falsification only with the help of laboratory examination.
How to recognize a fake:
- Natural bread is stored no longer than 24 hours without packaging and 72 hours in packaging. If the inscription on the packaging promises a longer storage, it means that preservatives have not been avoided.
- High-quality bread will quickly regain its shape with easy pressure on its surface. If there is a dent, then the bread is not baked, and the crumb is too sticky.
- Too sweet and unnatural aroma of brown bread indicates the presence of a dye (such as caramel).
- Artificially colored and containing dyes such as cocoa and carmine, the bread has a very dark and uniform brown color. In real black bread, the flour fibers are unevenly distributed, and the color is also uneven.
3. Smoked fish
Tasty, aromatic fish is an irreplaceable addition to beer, and is good in itself. Do you know why smoked fish sometimes have a special aroma? From a fragrance called liquid smoke. There may be an allergic reaction to it, and in some countries "liquid smoke" of artificial origin is prohibited as a carcinogen.
How to recognize a fake:
- Fish treated with "liquid smoke" has a very strong smoked smell.
- If the fish is smoked according to all the rules, its meat has a yellowish tint, and fat (of the same shade) is in the stomach area.
- The cut fish, smoked with liquid smoke, has the color of a simple herring, and hardly any fat is released.
- Therefore, if you buy smoked fish, do not hesitate and ask the seller to cut it.
2. Olive oil
For the Italian mafia, the olive oil counterfeiting business is a gold mine. Back in 2011, the Italian investigating authorities reported that about 80% of the olive oil supplied from Italy had falsified designations or was incorrectly declared.
So if you take "real Italian olive oil", be prepared for the fact that it may turn out to be a low-grade counterfeit mixed with the cheapest vegetable oil imported from Tunisia, Greece and Morocco.
How to recognize a fake:
- Examine the composition, it should only contain olive oil (Natural, 100% Olive Oil). If the words Mix, Polivio, Estella are present, this is a mixture that can contain as little as 1% olive oil.
- It's good if the word DOP is on the label. This means that the entire oil production cycle, including bottling, was carried out in one controlled region.
- High-quality olive oil, once in the refrigerator, thickens noticeably, and flakes and sediment will appear on the bottom. At room temperature, the oil will return to normal.
1. Bottled natural water
The top 10 most counterfeit products in Russia are headed by water, without which, as you know, "neither here nor there." According to Sergey Chemezov, head of the Rostec corporation, the percentage of counterfeit bottled water in Russia on average is 25 to 30%. And in some regions it reaches 80%.
Chemezov proposed to solve this problem by marking the water. In the meantime, we will have to independently try to distinguish between good bottled water and bad.
How to recognize a fake:
- The label must indicate the number of the artesian well, as well as the date of bottling, expiration date, degree of mineralization and hardness, the composition of the water and its source (well or water supply).
- There are two categories of bottled water - the first and the highest. The first also gets ordinary water passed through an industrial filter. Only participants who meet GOST and the requirements for artesian and spring water are admitted to the top league.
- There should be no impurities or precipitation in the water.
- If GOST or TU is not indicated on the label, then it is better not to take such water.