You'd expect food from a supermarket's budget range to be inferior to their own brand range.
But that doesn't appear to always be the case according to an investigation by the Mirror .
Journalists tested several budget range products sold by Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons only to find the equivalent product in the supermarkets' more expensive own brand range contained the same ingredients and nutritional values.
Some products came from same factory and even had the same product codes. The products could only be identified from one another by their price and packaging.
For example, the weight, ingredients and nutritional contents of cans of corned beef from Sainsbury's and Tesco were the same in both their mid-market and cheaper budget ranges.
Here are some more details on other products which appear to be the same in both ranges.
1. Tesco
Tesco, Everyday value cornflakes, 500g - 45p
Cornflakes, 500g - £1
DIFFERENCE: 55p
2. Morrisons
Savers UHT skimmed milk, 1L - 57p
Longlife skimmed milk, 1L - 88p
DIFFERENCE: 31p
3.Tesco
Everyday value new potatoes in water, 567g -35p
New potatoes in water, 567g - 65p
DIFFERENCE: 31p
4. Tesco
Everyday value corned beef, 340g - £1.50
Corned Beef, 340g - £1.75
DIFFERENCE: 25p
5. Sainsbury’s
Basics corned beef, 340g - £1.50
Corned beef, 340g - £1.75
DIFFERENCE: 25p
6.Sainsbury’s
Basics self-raising flour, 1.5kg -60p
Self-raising flour, 1.5kg - 85p
DIFFERENCE: 25p
7. Asda
Smartprice Corned Beef, 340g -£1.47
Corned Beef, 340g -£1.67
DIFFERENCE: 20p
8. Asda
Smartprice garden peas in water, 300g, - 21p
Garden peas in water, 300g - 40p
DIFFERENCE: 19p
9. Morrisons
Savers clear honey, 340g - £1
Clear honey 340g - £1.13
DIFFERENCE: 13p
10. Morrisons
Savers salted butter, 250g - £1.50
Salted Butter (250g) - £1.60
DIFFERENCE: 10p
Tesco said: “We want all our own-brand products [to] offer real value and are reviewing our approach to these.”
Sainsbury’s said: “There are many factors which inform product specification. This will dictate the range it is in.”
Asda said the products had the “same overall ingredients” but “gradings differ”.
Morrisons said: “Savers butter is sourced from inside and outside the UK. Standard butter will always be British.” And its Long Life milk has “clever” packaging.
