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Alex Rast
 
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Default Making truffles....OT?

at Thu, 27 Nov 2003 05:10:54 GMT in <heimdall-BC7C9E.00102627112003@news4-
ge1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net>, lid (Scott) wrote :

>In article >,
>
(Alex Rast) wrote:
>
>> Also look for "pasteurized", not "ultra-pasteurized".

>
>This is getting harder and harder to find. I went to five different
>supermarkets, and they ALL carried only ultra-pasteurized. Sheesh.
>

Mostly, I suspect, because the manufacturers aren't educating or informing
the consumers. They're putting the cream (or milk) on the shelf in cartons
that look exactly identical, in every detail, other than the words "ultra-
pasteurized" instead of "pasteurized" somewhere on the label in small
print. Futhermore, even if the consumer spots this, it's not coming with
any fanfare or any materials indicating what the difference in processing
methods is, or that the prefix "ultra-" is significant in any way at all.
They're being quietly put on shelves. Worse, the consumer may look at the
"expires by" date, note that it's much later for ultra-pasteurized, and
conclude that the product must be fresher (even though there's no way to
know - ultra-pasteurized have much longer shelf lives and thus expirations
way further in the future.) The retailer is almost invariably going to
prefer the ultra-pasteurized, because it increases the shelf life and thus
decreases waste due to cartons remaining unsold beyond their pull date. The
consumer is essentially blind and usually oblivious to the fact that a
change has been made - they assume it's the same product. They may well
notice the taste difference and the fact that cream is more difficult to
whip, but again, most of the time, they'll probably dismiss it as their
imagination - after all, why would identical-looking product suddenly be
different?

But while this works for the retailer and the producer in the short run, it
actually backfires in the long run. Consumers aren't fooled forever, and
after months of product that just doesn't taste or whip like it used to,
they start to get the idea that something's wrong. And since it's worse
than it was, they'll start buying less. They may be sufficiently motivated
to look for alternatives. And if they find them, they'll buy them. A great
case in point happened with one of my local supermarkets. Organic Valley
heavy cream in the pint cartons is pasteurized and has a higher milkfat
content than other creams. Furthermore it has no stabilizers, emulsifiers,
thickeners, or other additives. This local supermarket happened to stock
various other creams. Then at some point a few years ago, they started to
carry Organic Valley. Buying it in their store a few months thereafter, I
mentioned to the manager "this cream is the best out there". And the
manager responded "Yeah...everybody knows that." Turned out it outsells
every other cream by multiples. On major holidays it always sells out,
while other creams sit on the shelf unbought. They have no problem turning
over their stock long before the expiration dates. It goes to show you that
customers notice things more than producers might often think, and it pays
to carry quality because it usually sells itself. Trying to cut corners by
saving money might seem attractive in the short run, but it's a fool's
bargain in the long run.

--
Alex Rast

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