Aldi CEO Giles Hurley has emailed the ‘eye-opening’ Panorama investigation findings to customers warning of other retailers’ claims

The email, which was sent to registered Aldi customers yesterday evening (Wednesday September 26), said the documentary “revealed some eye-opening findings”, including that many of Tesco’s products that claim to be price-matched with Aldi are not like for like.

“The programme, which aired on BBC One, highlighted that nearly a third of Tesco’s matched products contain less of the main ingredient compared to Aldi’s,” he said.

The programme found that items such as chicken nuggets, blackcurrant squash and chicken kievs contained less of their main ingredients compared with the Aldi equivalents, according to the investigation carried out in August this year.

Tesco’s chicken nuggets contained just 39% chicken, compared with 60% in Aldi’s version. Its chicken kievs were 44% chicken, while Aldi’s by comparison were 57%.

The email said: “We’re aware that other retailers might claim to match our prices, but as this research shows, these claims are not always what they appear to be. We welcome the investigation by Panorama, as it supports what we passionately believe: at Aldi, you don’t have to compromise on quality to get great value.”

Following the investigation, Tesco told the BBC that it “constantly reviewed the quality of its groceries and has clear processes implemented to make sure its price-matched goods are comparable to Aldi”.

The supermarket giant also said having a higher quantity of ingredient in a product did not necessarily make that item a higher quality.

A Tesco spokesman said: “Since we launched our Aldi Price Match four years ago it has proved very popular with customers. We constantly review the quality of our products, and we have clear processes in place to ensure that the hundreds of products that are included are comparable with those sold at Aldi.”