How Manufacturers and Vendors Mislead Consumers

In the commercial world, the chief aim is to manufacture products at the lowest possible cost and sell products to get the greatest possible profit. This philosophy is the norm in commerce but there are some manufacturers and vendors who simply want to maximize profits by shortchanging the consumers.

There are some ways by which food manufacturers cheat on consumers:

• To cut on production costs, some manufacturers do not have facilities (e.g., faucets with running water, drainage, screens to block the entry of insects) for basic sanitation in their factories. Thus, the food in these factories are manufactured under dirty conditions.
• Some manufacturers use extenders without declaring these in their labels. For example, milk is being used in peanut butter, toasted grains are added to coffee and water is added to fresh milk.
• Some processed meats are packed with too much fat and tendons.
• To make their products more appealing, some manufacturers advertise their products as containing certain nutrients, even if the amount of these nutrients is insignificant.
  

Below are some ways in which food vendors cheat consumers:

• Some vendors shortchange the consumers in terms of net weight and number of pieces of the food being bought.
• Some vendors sell food that are just about to or are already spoiled. This is usually done with vegetables and fruits where the spoiled pieces are mixed with the fresh ones.
• Food that has been exposed to insects, dirt and pollution are sold as fresh products. If there are telltale signs of the damage done (e.g. mouse bites on bread, or dirt on food that have fallen to the ground) these damages are simply remedied by washing or slicing so that the food can still be sold.
• To make their food fresh and colorful, some vendors resort to putting "make up" on the food. For example, food color is added to tocino to make it appear red. Fish is dipped in formalin to make it firm. Chicken is injected with water to make it appear plump.
• To be able to sell more of their products, some vendors add to the ingredients. Coconut residues, for example, are added to bagoong alamang, while water and salt are added to fish bagoong.