I am a person who likes to eat sausages and ham. I have tasted different flavors, including Cantonese-style sausage, Sichuan-style sausage, Beijing-style garlic sausage, salami, ham, and countless other brands.
I have tried everything from street-style starch sausages to volcano stone pure meat sausages, to fast food options like Wangzhongwang and chicken sausages.
I once had a bold idea of starting a short video account specifically for reviewing sausages and ham. However, due to financial constraints and the difficulty of describing the taste of food, I abandoned the idea.
All I can say is that something tastes good or bad, and at most, I can add some descriptions of the texture.
But in order to be successful in video media, you need to use phrases like "Wow, biting into this feels as fresh as chewing on a cow." Unfortunately, I can't do that.
The reason for all this is that a few days ago, I was feeling a bit hungry and searched for ham sausages. I came across a product on Pinduoduo that left me bewildered.
The following screenshots are real and all taken from official flagship stores.
The screenshots related to Yurun are from Yurun Snacks flagship store, and the screenshots related to Shuanghui are from Shuanghui Snacks flagship store.
Let's start with today's protagonist.
It is priced at 184,000 yuan per bag, with a price of 14.7 RMB for 500g.
Although 14.7 RMB is affordable for everyone, it is not cheap for ham sausages. It is in the same league as the well-known Shuanghui Wangzhongwang.
So, what's the problem?
As an e-commerce practitioner, I like to analyze the main image and title. Even if it's not my store and I'm not involved in domestic trade, selling products is the underlying logic.
First, let's look at the main image. We can easily get two key pieces of information:
1. Black Pig Emperor
2. Meat content > 80%
Looking at the title, it only shows one line, which consists of the brand name + core word + Black Pig Emperor.
So, if you don't look closely, as a consumer, it's easy to conclude:
This product uses 80% black pork as the raw material.
It also seems to have a relatively good cost performance, considering that Shuanghui's non-black pork sausages are priced similarly.
For the same price, being able to eat black pork, as a consumer, isn't that a good deal?
Now, let's take a look at the ingredient list.
The problem lies here. If you don't look closely, you will be "tricked".
Why do I put "tricked" in quotation marks? Because they didn't hide the ingredient list from you, you just didn't look.
Is this considered deception? Of course not, it's a case of "you get what you pay for".
So, what's the problem with this ingredient list?
The problem is: why is chicken listed as the first ingredient in a ham sausage that claims to contain black pork?
Some people may not understand what it means for chicken to be listed as the first ingredient. According to China's National Food Safety Standard for Prepackaged Food Labels, the ingredients in the ingredient list should be listed in descending order of the amount added during the manufacturing or processing of the food.
What does that mean? It means that the ingredient with the highest quantity should be listed first, and this is not arbitrary.
In other words, this black pig emperor sausage with 80% meat content deviates greatly from what you might think.
Now, let's go back and look at it again.
Is there a problem with the seller's claim of 80% meat content?
No, there is no problem. Chicken + pork + black pork together make up 80% of the meat content, but chicken is the most abundant.
Is there a problem with the seller's claim of Black Pig Emperor?
No, there is no problem because they did indeed add black pork, but we don't know the exact amount.
So, the core of this product is an 80% meat content sausage with chicken as the main ingredient and some black pork.
Now, let's take a look at Shuanghui's product, and we'll just look at the ingredient list.
Because we are all familiar with Wangzhongwang, I believe that most of us have eaten it before.
Endorsed by War Wolf, it's truly extraordinary. Although there is indeed chicken in it, pork has the highest proportion.
The purpose of writing this article is what?
To recommend buying Shuanghui instead of Yurun? No.
Did Shuanghui pay me more than Yurun? No.
As a consumer, I just want to tell you that in China, you need to have as much knowledge as possible to avoid being deceived. This article aims to teach you one thing, that the order of ingredients in the ingredient list is important and reveals not only what the ingredients are but also their approximate proportions.
China's regulations on ingredient lists are quite comprehensive, seemingly more comprehensive than neighboring Japan, where some things can be omitted from the ingredient list.
The 2024 315 exposé revealed that preserved pork was used in pre-made dishes. You may not remember where it came from, but I do. It came from Fuyang, Anhui, which happens to be my hometown. I feel ashamed.
The person who produces preserved pork said that they don't eat it themselves and won't let their children eat it, as if this can avoid the consequences of their wrongdoing. But what if people all over the country are willing to do anything for profit?
Yes, you may not eat preserved pork, but do you drink milk?
Sorry, some melamine has been added to the milk.
You don't drink milk, do you eat Lao Tan sauerkraut beef noodles?
Sorry, some cigarette butts have been added to the sauerkraut.
You don't eat sauerkraut beef noodles, do you eat hamburgers?
Sorry, some expired chicken fillets have been added to the hamburgers.
So, the current pursuit of profit in China has turned it into a society of mutual harm, with examples of extreme greed everywhere.
You say you don't even look at the ingredient list, do you really care about what you're eating?
And, for brands like Yurun, their ingredient lists are okay because if they falsify the ingredient list, you can sue them and they will compensate you.
But what about small factories? Some don't even provide ingredient lists, and some just write whatever they want. If you sue them, they will simply go out of business.
Not to mention black workshops. If you say you want to sue them, they will just laugh. Can you find someone to sue me?
So, when shopping on e-commerce platforms, including offline shopping, my first habit is to look at the ingredient list. Firstly, for the sake of my health, I don't want to consume too much sugar and additives. Secondly, I really want to know what they put in there.
If a snack is sold online but doesn't have an ingredient list, I would assume that they are hiding something, and I probably wouldn't choose that snack. It's that simple, but it's really important.
Of course, you can say that you can ask customer service and they will provide it, but why not include it in the secondary image or details page?
Perhaps this habit is also related to raising cats because the quality of cat food largely depends on the ingredient list and the traceability of the ingredients. I not only want to know if you added chicken or chicken powder, but also which factory the chicken came from. Only then can I feel at ease.
There's one more point I want to emphasize: China is capable of producing good products, and Chinese people are capable of deserving good products.
The problem lies in the internal competition within companies, the constant price wars, and the continuous cost-cutting, to the point of becoming pathological, not just in the food industry.
Then, bad money drives out good money.
Here, I'll share a comment from a foreign netizen that I really like.
Here's an English comment from a foreign netizen on Hacker News. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37919124)
"I have disassembled most of the things I have received from China, and there is a lot of engineering innovation in them. However, these innovations are not aimed at consumers, but at how to manufacture these electronic products with fewer manufacturing steps and lower costs.
However, one day, the attention of these engineers will shift from making cheaper and more efficient devices to focusing on how to make these products perform better and have more features. At that time, consumers will perceive their innovation."
Like the product mentioned in this article, is it good enough? The answer is no. Compared to Shuanghui Wangzhongwang, I prefer their product because it has lower costs. They use marketing tactics and information asymmetry to conceal the shortcomings of the product's quality. If other small factories resort to even more unscrupulous methods, what do you think you will end up eating?
Perhaps it will be a "Sir Diao" brand sausage with 100% meat content.
First, there is the most chicken, followed by soy protein, and finally, a random amount of sirloin steak. Just add more additives than meat.
So, I support the profession of counterfeit fighters. You fight counterfeits through legal means and help us purify the market environment.
I don't care if you make reasonable or unreasonable profits from this, but purifying the market environment cannot rely solely on the government.
So, even for snacks, you should look at the brand and the ingredient list. That's what I want to tell you.