Why are products of different quality sold under the same brand in different countries
The dispute about sausage and justice
Czechs and Hungarians don't get enough salami in their pizza! Eastern Europeans are offended: how is that? As the European Union, so the united one — make contributions, accept migrants, but as products — so the quality is worse? The head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's office, Janos Lazar, called this story "The biggest scandal in recent years." Many people in Eastern Europe are outraged, the European Commission remains proudly silent: if products do not threaten health, then their different quality in different European countries does not matter. But for the Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and others, it does. For them, as it turned out, this is the clearest manifestation of the fact that Eastern Europe is still considered as a region of "second importance" compared, for example, with Germany or Austria. It's a shame, of course, but the fact is: the same brands, the same product names, but in Western and Eastern Europe, their taste and composition are often different. Guess who has the best?
For example, the pizza with salami brand Ristorante Edizione Speciale. And if you, like the Czechs, Slovaks and Ukrainians (it is in these countries that Edizione Speciale is sold), thought that "special edition" meant an improved recipe, then you were mistaken. In Edizione Speciale, salami is put twice as much as in the same pizza without a "special" label, which is sold in Germany or France. However, in the Czech Republic, such a pizza costs a little (but not twice) cheaper.
Jacobs Kronung instant coffee, produced for the German market, contains a third more caffeine than produced for the Czech Republic. Perhaps due to the fact that cheaper coffees are used to make the Czech version. However, it is cheaper in the Czech Republic.
Rama margarine in Germany is 10% fatter than in the Czech Republic. Representatives of the brand explain this by the fact that in the Czech Republic margarine is usually spread on bread cold, and in Germany it is used for frying. Despite the extra fat content, it is cheaper in Germany than in the Czech Republic.
Canned Tulip ham in Germany contains solid pork, in the Czech Republic — processed chicken. At the same time, these canned goods cost almost twice as much in the Czech Republic.
Hungarians complain that their Manner waffles are not as crispy as in Austria. In Slovakia, there is no orange juice in the orange drink of the Rewe brand, but there is in the same drink, but in neighboring Austria. Nutella chocolate paste in Hungary is less thick than in Austria. However, manufacturers say that in France it is too thin, and all in order to make it easier for the French to spread it on soft bread, which they love so much. Anyway, a study conducted in Hungary showed that 24 types of products sold here are of lower quality than those that can be found on the shelves in Austria and Germany.
Sprite, which is sold in the Czech Republic, has artificial sweeteners, fructose and glucose syrup, while Sprite, which is made in Germany, has only sugar. The Coca–Cola company claims that the "Czech" recipe is also used for the markets of the USA and Spain, and in the Czech Nestea sugar, for example, is 35% less than in Germany. But it's healthier this way, isn't it? In response, the authors of a recent (by the way, not the first) Czech study claim that manufacturers still care more about the health of Western Europeans: less trans fats are used in their products. Of all the products tested, there was only one that had the same composition and the same quality in all countries — that in Germany with Austria, that in the Czech Republic with Slovakia. This is Swiss chocolate Milka.
The head of the Hungarian Prime Minister's office, Janos Lazar, said he was "alarmed after reading the report" and said that more extensive product research would be conducted in the country. However, Budapest, which is so resolute in many other issues, has avoided answering what steps it can take in this regard. Because changing something is not just difficult, but very difficult. After all, they have been talking about the problem for years, but the who, as they say, is still there. Therefore, the Czech Ministry of Agriculture decided to conduct a large-scale comparison of the quality of the products of the same name, which are sold in Czech shops, with those that can be bought in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The results will be presented to the European Commission together with a proposal to draft a bill that will oblige manufacturers to produce products identical in composition for all EU countries. However, a representative of Nestle Cesko has already hastened to declare that "artificial unification of recipes" will not benefit, since residents of different countries have different tastes, which is what companies take into account, varying recipes for different countries. "We are not saying that these companies cannot adapt their products to the requirements of consumers," says Olga Stegnalova, an MEP from the Czech Republic. — We are talking about different quality when it comes to the basic ingredients. I think this is unacceptable." Slovak Minister of Agriculture Gabriela Matechna echoes her: "The argument that consumers in different regions prefer different tastes is untenable, because Slovak consumers definitely do not prefer artificial sweeteners or additives or a lower meat content compared to Austrians. Consumers expect the same quality from the same brand, regardless of the country of manufacture or purchase."
MEP Olga Stegnalova, who has been dealing with this problem for six years, has repeatedly contacted the European Commission and even got an answer in which she was told "that we are talking about taste and price preferences in individual countries, and if the situation does not threaten the health of residents, then it makes no sense to discuss this topic." The European Commission is not as interested in quality as in safety. If the product does not undermine health and does not kill, then what difference does it make how many artificial additives are in it? Well, really, will the European Commission fight for chocolate paste to be equally thick in all EU countries? While the entire European Union is under threat? And considering that the density of this very paste is quite acceptable to residents of Germany and France? Don't make me laugh.
Nevertheless, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, along with other leaders of the Visegrad Group countries (except the Czech Republic, which includes Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), intends to bring up the issue of different product quality during the March EU summit in Rome, which will meet to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundations of the European Union. "There should be a uniform quality throughout Europe, and this quality should be the highest," Prime Minister Sobotka said. But so far this has not happened, residents of Karlovy Vary go to the flea market every Sunday and are happy to buy products brought from Germany (the benefit is only 30 km away). There is always a queue behind them: they are cheaper than Czech ones, and the quality is better. And after that, who would dare to say that there are no second-class citizens in the EU?
