Pseudo-concept "blowing out" high price, Internet celebrities stuffed with a cow really "incense"?

Recently, the Beijing Business Daily reporter found that the new dairy brand "stuffed with a cow" called its zero sucrose buttermilk "sugar-free yogurt" in the promotion, and called its zero sucrose buttermilk with a protein content of 4g per 100ml as a high-protein product.

Industry insiders believe that yogurt itself contains lactose, and it is impossible to achieve "sugar-free", and according to relevant regulations, general dairy products need to reach more than 6g per 100ml to be called high-protein products. Plugging a cow is suspected of misleading consumers and false publicity.

In fact, in recent years, the rise of net red milk, milk "inner volume" intensified. High protein milk, star sugar reduction special, sugar-free yogurt... With the increasing number of new concept influencer products, the price point has also soared. In the eyes of industry insiders, high price does not mean high nutrition, and it is not equivalent to a higher guarantee of product quality. For dairy companies, the competition is the long-term competitiveness of the brand, rather than relying on the "new concept" of the moment to win the favor.

Play "sugar-free" and "high-protein" edge balls

Beijing Business Daily reporter recently found that a cow was advertised in the advertisement for its zero sucrose buttermilk product as "sugar-free yogurt", suitable for weight loss people, sugar control people, and played "the gospel of sugar control star people" and other slogans.

Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said that the so-called "sugar-free" stuffed with a cow refers to no sucrose, not sugar-free, so it belongs to the concept of stealing, and the yogurt itself contains lactose, and there is no so-called "sugar-free yogurt".

"This is a kind of behavior in which enterprises are rubbing the edge of the ball," Said Song Liang, an independent analyst at the dairy industry, "First, 'zero sucrose' does not mean that there is no sugar, but there is no sucrose." Second, sugar is an important nutrient that the human body needs to ingest, and excessive sugar reduction is actually not good for the body. There is no clinical evidence that this high-protein yogurt is helpful for weight loss. In addition, the so-called 'zero sugar' concept of absolutization itself is not suitable for product promotion, and is more of a marketing gimmick. ”

Liu Junhai, a professor at the Law School of Chinese Min University, also agreed: "Stuffing a cow with this propaganda is suspected of misleading consumers and false publicity. Merchants who say 'sugar-free' consumers will think that there is no sugar in their dairy products, and this kind of publicity violates consumers' right to know, choose and fair trade. At the same time, absolute terms such as 'zero sugar' and 'zero fat' are not in line with the provisions of the Advertising Law. At present, many merchants are doing zero-sugar food and other publicity, believing that 'the law does not blame the public', which is actually a dishonest behavior. ”

In addition to declaring its products "sugar-free," Stuffed Cow also declared its regular protein content yogurt to be "high-protein yogurt." The Beijing Business Daily reporter found that the official Weibo of a cow said in an advertisement video about zero sucrose buttermilk released in November, "It is not wrong to choose zero sucrose and high-protein yogurt." The nutritional composition table of the product indicates that the protein content of the product is 4g per 100ml.

According to the national standard "General Principles for Food Safety National Standards for Prepackaged Food Nutrition Labels" (GB 28050-2011), in terms of the requirements and conditions for energy and nutrient content claims, the protein content of each 100ml product in liquid milk can only be claimed as high protein milk if the protein content of each 100ml product reaches 6g.

In this regard, the Beijing Business Daily reporter sent an email to interview Beijing Nuoran Biotechnology Co., Ltd., the producer of a cow, but did not receive a reply as of press time. However, when the Beijing Business Daily reporter asked whether its zero sucrose buttermilk was a high-protein yogurt as a consumer, the other party gave a negative answer.

"At the level of regulatory standards, the corresponding nutritional content in dairy products should meet the requirements of the standard to be officially recognized. In the industry, the standard requirements are usually taken as the minimum line, such as the specified protein content of 6g, the product will be at least 7, 8g or even 10g will be called 'high protein' in the industry. Song Liang said.

Is high-priced net red milk safer?

With the improvement of the health awareness of the Chinese people, China's dairy industry has developed rapidly in recent years, consumers have higher requirements for the choice of milk, and all kinds of "net red" milk have emerged.

The data shows that in the decade from 2010 to 2019, the total number of milk-related enterprise registrations increased from 1.155 million to 4.563 million, quadrupling. The Beijing Business Daily reporter noted that the price of a single bottle of some net red milk brands has soared to about 10 yuan.

Compared with the previous two or three yuan a bag of milk, these products have made many consumers feel novel in terms of price: is such expensive milk better and healthier than ordinary milk? However, the industry generally believes that high selling prices do not mean high nutrition.

In fact, in terms of nutrient content, the difference between net red milk and ordinary milk is not large. The price of a bottle of fresh milk products with a capacity of 228ml of a cow is 9.8 yuan, and its average unit price of 100ml products is about 4.3 yuan, each 100ml contains 4g of protein and 100mg of calcium; 4.0+ high-quality milk protein fresh milk with a capacity of 950ml is priced at 26.9 yuan a box, about 2.83 yuan per 100ml, and 4.1g of protein and 140mg of calcium per 100ml Newland 250ml capacity of 4.0g protein high calcium low fat pure milk about 6.58 yuan a box, per 100ml product unit price of about 2.63 yuan, containing protein 4g, calcium 122mg; Mengniu 180ml capacity 2.9 yuan a bag of ordinary fresh milk price of about 1.6 yuan per 100ml, containing protein 3g, calcium 102mg.

In contrast, it can be seen that the protein content per 100ml of fresh milk stuffed with a cow is not as good as that of Uno, and the calcium content is not as good as the ordinary milk of Uno, Newland and even the old brand Mengniu, but the average price is several times that of the latter.

In addition, net red milk has also touched the legal red line many times. In 2021, the Dongguan Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Guangdong Province issued a notice on food supervision and sampling information, saying that the nominal calcium content of a batch of Baifei Buffalo high-calcium milk produced by Guangxi Baifei Dairy Co., Ltd. "The product calcium content label value is 240mg/part, and the calcium detection value is 175mg/part", which is only 72.9% of the product label value, and the calcium content does not meet the national standards for food safety.

In the public account copy of Kashi Yogurt in July this year, Kashi Yogurt called itself "the world's best and healthiest yogurt". However, industry insiders believe that the Advertising Law stipulates that absolute terms such as "national level", "highest level" and "best" shall not be used in advertisements, and Kashi yogurt is suspected of violating the Advertising Law.

"'Net red' brands need to play brand power with new concepts, but the dairy market competes for long-term competitiveness, that is, milk source costs, market response efficiency, brand influence and coverage, and the new brands are relatively immature, resulting in market chaos." Song Liang analyzed. Beijing Business Daily reporter Bai Yang Zhang Han/Wen Ju photographed