SWR, 2019, 45 minutes
Nearly half the foods sold in Germany are ready meals. To produce them profitably, manufacturers have to resort to tricks. This explains why, for example, the main ingredients of so many convenience products are: fats, water, sugar, and flour. The rest is up to their food designers, whose little helpers guarantee the consistency and taste consumers expect. A foray through the world’s biggest processed-foods trade fair shows how few valuable ingredients are actually found in our favorite dishes from a packet, tin, or frozen-food package. We also see how cleverly manufacturers conceal this fact – by means of so-called “clean labeling”.