In September was published new edition of the bestseller The right choice at the supermarketthe reference guide to do his shopping, developed by a collective of doctor, dietitian and scientific journalists of the Lanutrition site. On this occasion, we questioned Juliette Pouyat, co-author, who enlightens us on the new features of this edition, the good surprises … and the less good.
The world of nutrition: what is the objective of the book The right choice at the supermarket ?
Dre Juliette Pouyat: The idea is to support the consumer so that he can choose the products of the supermarket of good nutritional quality, those who are the best for his health. In the book, we have analyzed the lists of ingredients of 800 products found on the shelves of large areas. For each selection (cooked dishes, sauces, yogurts, cookies, etc.), we recommend 5 products and we do not recommend 5. Of course, we cannot be exhaustive, but we also have an educational objective. By explaining our choices to the reader, and offering it clear and accessible information, we provide him with the essential tools to shop at the supermarket and teach him to assess the quality of a food independently.
And precisely what differentiates a voucher from a bad food?
Our main criterion is the level of transformation. An ultra-transformed food is necessarily penalized, due to its negative impact on health. To determine this criterion, we peel the list of ingredients looking for cosmetic and economic agents, the famous ACE. These are all the “ingredients” that you do not find in your kitchen cupboards. Among them, of course are additives but also industrial sugars, aromas, etc. A good food ideally contains only real ingredients. Then, we take into account the sugar, salt, the quality of fat, the protein content … and we favor the best compositions.
What are the new features of this 2025 edition?
We have tried to stick to the reality on the ground: some shelves have developed a lot, this is the case with the vegetable fresh radius which appears in this edition or the radius of the dishes cooked in microwaves. We preferred to abandon the sodas department: none can be recommended. In the form, we have chosen to comment for each product, so that the reader/consumer can understand what motivated our choice. It is a good way for him to appropriate the criteria for selecting a food and being able to apply them when he shops at the supermarket, faced with a product that would not be in the right choice at the supermarket.
Have you noticed changes since the previous edition?
Yes, and fortunately by the way! Some brands provide efforts to improve the composition of their products with a real concern to provide quality products. There are very good products at the supermarket. For others, the objective is to improve their nutri-score by decreasing sugar or by artificially increasing the fiber content. But the degree of transformation remains the same. Nutri-Score A and ultra-transformation are unfortunately not incompatible! There is for example a vegetable “ham” at Happyvore which displays a Nutri-Score has when it is an ultra-transformed product, the result of an industrial drum. This is why our analysis in the right choice goes further than the Nutri-Score and encourages the consumer to do the same by dissecting the labels to identify the markers of the ultra-transformation.
Do the best known brands do better than others?
No, it is not because a brand is better known or more represented within a radius that it offers the best products. Take the example of the Rana brand, one of the leading brands of the stuffed pasta department. The products it offers contain too many ACEs when other less represented brands are doing better. Same for Alpro, omnipresent in the radius of plant desserts. The distributor brands sometimes do much better than the “big” brands and we have awarded them several times our “top” of the ranking. In addition, some brands are capable of the best and the worst. Amora can offer mayonnaise with only 5 ingredients and without ace and at the same time a barbecue sauce with catastrophic composition. New brands have appeared and try to make a place among the giants in the sector on which they position themselves. They offer products with sometimes original composition, we have found a sauce-based burger sauce at Mazette!, A barbecue sauce with vegetables in the first ingredient and no ACE at .NOD or a vegetable sky without ACE at Morice.
Among the foods analyzed, what are the good surprises?
The adult cereal department has evolved into less processed and less sweet products. There are now many more muesli and oats. It’s a good thing. There are also good quality prepared dishes in supermarkets, made with real ingredients. Another good surprise: sausage and chorizo without nitrites are available at the supermarket. You can also find good quality bread at the supermarket, the Biofournil brand, for example, offers sourdough breads prepared with unrefined flours.
And the bad ones?
It is always difficult to find dry, chocolate or good quality fruit cookies. Few products contain only real ingredients, and the presence of glucose syrup is frequent. Butter is often replaced by palm oil. However, some make real efforts to offer quality products, such as mother Poulard for example. While the products read, mastodonte of the department, are often full of sugar and ace! Vegetable alternatives (similarities and plant desserts) are very present in the fresh department, but they are often ultra-transformed products. The consumer thinks of making a wise choice for his health, but these products are much more chemistry than cooking. Finally, the offer of fruit yogurts is disappointing: difficult to find products without ACE, unless you go to organic stores.
What advice can we give to the consumer before buying a product?
To read the labels of the products! This is the only way for him to know the composition of a food and to assess the degree of transformation. A list of ingredients that are too long, ingredients with a complicated and often unknown name, marketing allegations a little too highlighted are all small signals that must put the consumer on alert. The ultra-transformation markers are quite easy to identify: these are for example the additives designated by an E followed by a technical number or name, aromas, industrial sugars (glucose syrup, dextrose …), modified starchs … The more the food is transformed. It is also judicious to look at the first ingredient, that present in greater quantity in the food: if it is sugar or worst glucose syrup or a fat of poor quality, go your way. At the beginning, this exercise in reading the labels may seem tedious. But with the habit, it becomes faster and intuitive. This learning is essential to learn to decode labels and not be trapped by marketing promises or nutri-score which does not take into account the degree of food processing. Finally, you should know that organic is not necessarily better. A product can be organic and ultra-transformed. The same goes for light products, often poor in fat and rich in Ace.
