Here are the finalists for Food Scam of the Year – vote for your favorite

Every year, the non-profit consumer association Äkta vara—which advocates for more honest food and better food quality—selects a product from the past year that deserves the notorious ‘Food Scam of the Year’ award. Now you can vote for this year’s finalists.

According to Äkta vara, they had grown tired of additives and claims that food is ‘traditional’ and ‘authentic’ when, in fact, these often involve ultra-processed products that are as far from ‘homemade’ as possible, along with a longing for food that hasn’t been tampered with.

With the Food Scam of the Year anti-prize, the association aims to draw attention to food fraud and put pressure on food manufacturers who sell products that stretch the truth. This unflattering recognition often leads manufacturers to change their products to make them ‘less deceptive or not deceptive at all’—but some do nothing at all.

Ice cream was last year’s winner

Last year’s winners were Alvestaglass and Järnaglass, whose production was moved abroad—something they neglected to inform consumers about.

“Obviously, many consumers felt they were deceived by these products. They believed they had bought locally or at least Swedish-made ice cream, but it turned out that production had been outsourced to factories in Europe,” commented Äkta vara’s operations manager and co-founder Björn Bernhardson.

The 2025 scam shortlist

The public can now vote for this year’s finalists:

Eldorado White Block
Has nothing to do with chocolate whatsoever. The cocoa butter has been replaced by palm oil.

Dufvenkrooks Low Alcohol Cloudberry Mulled Wine
No cloudberries in the ingredients; instead, it’s flavored with a ‘natural aroma,’ and the color comes from four colorants.

Sardinmästaren’s Premium Sardines
Contains not what is normally called sardines, but herring.

GB Glace Old-Fashioned Vanilla
A handful of additives and industrial ingredients have been added while the classic ingredient egg yolk has been removed. The Advertising Ombudsman also recently ruled the advertising for the ice cream to be misleading.

Färsking Baked Apple Pie
Despite the name and the image of apple slices and a pie piece on the front, there is no apple at all in the ingredient list.

You can VOTE HERE through January 26.