Food Comparison: Which No Added Sugar Baked Beans are Best?

When we’re out and about shopping, savvy consumers these days engage in price comparisons in an effort to hunt out the best deals for our pocket. Those same savvy consumers would do well to consider engaging in food ingredient comparisons too, to hunt out the best deals for our gut.

You might think there’s little in the difference between one brand of food item over another, but when ingredients are compared, you may well discover that one is potentially much healthier than the other.

Thurles.Info recently posted about the free Yuka App which enables the public to scan barcodes and get an easy to read summary of what’s in your food.

Note: The Yuka App was created and launched in 2017 by the French team of Julie Chapon, François Martin and Benoit Martin. They wanted to create an easy way for consumers to find out what ingredients and nutrients were in our food.
It’s now estimated that over 10 million people use this App in France and the UK. It has even influenced a major French grocery shop chain, Intermarché, to change ingredients in 900 products following a drop in sales by consumers using the App and refusing to purchase products with various additives.

On a recent shopping excursion we used the Yuka App to compare one staple food item, found in almost every Irish cupboard – the tin of Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce.

According to Yuka, Batchelors No Added Sugar Baked Beans are rated poor (49/100) because of the presence of E954 otherwise known as Saccharin, a hazardous additive associated with increased risks of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease if consumed in large quantities.
In comparison, Heinz No Added Sugar Baked Beans are rated excellent (84/100) with, according to Yuka, no hazardous additives present.
Bramwells No Added Sugar Baked Beans are rated excellent (90/100), also, with, according to Yuka, no hazardous additives present.

In two large supermarket chain stores checked today:
Three 225g cans of Bachelors Baked Beans (No Added Sugar) retailed for €3.29.
Three 200g cans of Heinz Baked Beans (No Added Sugar) retailed at €3.00.
Three 225g cans of Bramwells Baked Beans (No Added Sugar) retailed at €1.47.
A significant difference in price, but also a potentially big difference in health, while also proving “it pays to shop around”.

So savvy shoppers consider comparing prices AND ingredients when out and about bargain hunting. As the old adage goes: “health is wealth“.