Dine & Cook | Alternative food journalism

According to leading consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports in most cases store brands are just as good as national brands.

In 21 head-to-head taste match-ups, national brands won seven times, the store brand came out on top in three instances, and the remainder resulted in ties.

"The study reaffirms that store brands are worth a try," said Tod Marks, senior projects editor for Consumer Reports. "For a family that spends $100 a week on groceries, the savings could add up to more than $1,500 a year."

The Consumer Reports' price study evaluated five supermarket chains and compared store named products to name-brand for 30 everyday items at five chains, collecting a total of 283 price quotes. Consumer Reports found the average savings with store brands was 30 percent, but shoppers saved as much as 52 percent on some items.

Although the savings are significant, Consumer Reports says some shoppers are still reluctant to try store brand products.  The top reason from those surveyed was a preference for name brands.

Despite this, 84 percent of Americans purchased store brands in the past year, and 93 percent of store brand shoppers said they would keep buying just as many store brands after the economy recovers. Nationwide, store brands accounted for almost one of four products sold in supermarkets and a record $55.5 billion in sales last year.

Consumer Reports found nutrition similar for most of the tested products, despite the perception among 17 percent of survey respondents who said that name-brand foods are more nutritious.

The most notable differences: Mott's applesauce has more sugar than Publix, Ore-Ida fries have more sodium than Jewel and Kellogg's Froot Loops have three grams of fiber versus one gram in Stop & Shop Fruit Swirls.

The study found that shoppers are devoted to certain categories as well. Consumers will purchase store-brand paper goods and plastics but at least half of respondents rarely or never buy store-brand wine, pet food, soda, or soup.

When Consumer Reports trained testers found that when it came to products like soup, the name brand didn't always reign:

--  Chicken soup: Food Lion's (36 cents per serving) Lotsa' Noodles soup
beat out Campbell's Chicken Noodle (41 cents per serving) for having a
little more intense flavor. Campbell's had oily broth, with fatty
pieces of chicken.
--  Orange juice: Publix Premium won over Tropicana for having a bit less
of a cooked flavor with slightly less bitter taste.
--  Hot dogs: America's Choice (A&P, $2.64 per package) beef hot dogs
trumped Oscar Mayer ($3.65 per package) for their juicy and flavorful
franks.


Name brands did win in seven of the categories, including mayonnaise, mozzarella cheese, and frozen French fries, but the majority of the matchups found that the store brand and name brand were of similar quality. A tie doesn't mean the taste was identical. Two products may be equally fresh and flavorful, with ingredients of similar quality, but in the end it came to taste.  Some products that tied include:

--  Ketchup: Heinz ($2.76 per bottle) is spicier, while Target's Market
Pantry ($1.174 per bottle) brand is more tomatoey.
--  Peanut butter: Tasters detected more deeply roasted nuts in Skippy (19
cents per serving), while Albertsons (15 cents per serving) has a hint
of molasses flavor.
--  Potato chips: Both Lays (29 cents per serving) and Walmart's Great
Value (15 cents per serving) have a nice balance of real potato
flavor, fat, and saltiness.

National brands are generally pricier than store brands, not so much because of what's in the package but because of the cost of developing the product and turning it into a household name.

Consumer Reports says there's no reason store brands shouldn't hold their own, since some companies manufacture both, including Sara Lee, Reynolds, 4C, McCormick, Feit, Manischewitz, Joy Cone, Stonewall Kitchen, and Royal Oak.

Despite the savings, the price advantage may be narrowing. In recent years, some national-brand makers have lowered prices and stepped up promotional activities.

On the web: www.ConsumerReports.org.