Rappn Report Week 43: veal sausages with 29% to 62% veal

The week in 60 seconds

• Veal sausages contain between 29% and 62% veal. The Swiss consumer protection foundation compared 85 products containing meat or fish: 11 of the 14 veal sausages also contain pork, and paying more does not automatically buy more meat (SKS, 21 October 2026).
• Lindt & Sprüngli's chairman says its chocolate became too expensive for many consumers in Germany and Switzerland. Promotions are now needed to draw attention to price cuts; in the first half of the year selling prices had risen by an average of 11.8% (NZZ am Sonntag, 24 October; AWP, 20 October 2026).
• Listeria in smoked trout fillets: do not eat them, refund without a receipt. The 125 g pack of the Nautica brand dated 01.11.2026 is affected; the same week, a dried savory was also recalled (FSVO, 20 and 24 October 2026).

Last updated: 27 October 2026. All figures come from the linked sources published between 19 and 25 October, except where marked as context. We do not convert or round anything.

How much meat is really in veal sausages and nuggets?

From mid-September to early October, the Swiss consumer protection foundation (Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz, SKS) compared 85 products with meat or fish bought from Swiss retailers: Bolognese sauce, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, veal sausages, ham pizza and tortellini (SKS, 21 October 2026). It recorded the price per 100 grams, the share of the meat or fish that gives the product its name, and its origin. The figures are the ones declared on the packs; the survey does not mention laboratory tests.

The widest gap is in veal sausages: 29% to 62% veal, 41% on average, and 11 of the 14 products also contain pork. The most expensive sausage in the comparison, CHF 4.13 per 100 grams, contains 36% organic veal (SKS survey). In chicken nuggets the chicken share runs from 46% to 67%, in Bolognese sauce the meat share from 16% to 35%. On one pack of raw-ham tortellini, the label gives a filling of 35% and raw ham at 13%: the ham is 13% of the filling, which makes 4.55% of the whole product. According to SKS, a higher price is no indicator of a higher meat share.

A day earlier SKS published a sugar check on products from two big retailers, from budget to premium lines: in rusks (Zwieback), sugar ranges from 2.4 to 17 grams per 100 grams depending on the product (SKS, 20 October 2026). SKS does not say how many products it checked; its conclusion is the same: the price does not tell you whether sugar was added.

For your shopping: the meat share is in the ingredients list on the back. Compare that and the price per 100 grams, not the pack price. Prices for sausages and cold cuts in Switzerland are in our sausage and cold cuts price guide.

Why is chocolate on promotion so often?

On Monday 19 October, Lindt & Sprüngli replaced its chief executive; former CEO Dieter Weisskopf is running the group on an interim basis. According to the AWP news agency, the group raised its selling prices by an average of 11.8% in the first half of 2026, after almost 20% the year before, and the volumes sold fell by 7.5% (cash.ch/AWP, 20 October 2026). Weisskopf wants to win customers back with targeted price cuts, among other measures.

Chairman Ernst Tanner told the NZZ am Sonntag that Lindt underestimated how customers would react to the price rises: especially in Germany and Switzerland, the products had become too expensive for many consumers. It hurts him to see the company's products on sale, he said, but for now promotions are needed to make customers aware of price cuts (foodaktuell/AWP, 25 October 2026). Tanner sees lasting lower prices as possible once the cocoa price settles at a normal level; he does not say which products, when or by how much.

For context: in the September consumer price index, chocolate was 0.9% cheaper than in August and 3.7% cheaper than a year earlier (FSO, 1 October 2026, context).

For your shopping: when chocolate is on promotion, compare the price per 100 grams with the regular price: that is the only way to know what the discount is worth.

Which foods were recalled this week?

On Saturday 24 October, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) issued a public warning: listeria was found in natural smoked trout fillets of the Nautica brand, and a health risk cannot be ruled out (FSVO, 24 October 2026, in German). The 125 g pack dated 01.11.2026 is affected; no lot number or regional limit is given. The Danish supplier started the recall on 23 October: the product can be returned to any branch of the retailer that sold it, with a refund even without a receipt (Recallswiss, 23 October 2026). For newborns, young children, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, a listeria infection can be serious.

On Tuesday 20 October the FSVO also warned about dried, rubbed savory of the Natur und Mensch Lebensbaum brand, 25 g, lot 104062: its pyrrolizidine alkaloid content is too high. Eaten regularly, these alkaloids can damage the liver and cause cancer (FSVO, 20 October 2026, in German). The manufacturer's recall of 23 October covers three batches: 103150, 104062 and 104731; refunds are given without a receipt (Recallswiss, 23 October 2026). The federal portal also lists two smaller recalls from Asian grocery shops: "Chrysanthemum Bud" 50 g and "Sator geschält" 100 g (Recallswiss, 20 October 2026).

For your shopping: check the fridge and the spice drawer: Nautica trout fillets dated 01.11.2026, Lebensbaum savory from one of the three batches. Do not eat them; take them back. Our guide to returning groceries explains how returns work in Swiss supermarkets.

What does this mean for your shopping?

This week the most useful numbers were not on the price tag but on the back of the pack and in the federal warnings. No new official price statistics came out between 19 and 25 October. Three things to look at:

• The label. The meat or fish share in the ingredients list, and the price per 100 grams: among the veal sausages in the SKS comparison, 33 percentage points separate the lowest veal share from the highest.
• The promotion. A discount is worth the gap to the regular price per 100 grams. A promotion is a snapshot of one week.
• The fridge. Nautica trout fillets dated 01.11.2026 and Lebensbaum savory from the recalled batches: do not eat them.

Three quick questions

Empty shelves in Italy: could it happen in Switzerland? In southern Italy, blockades by truck drivers and farmers protesting against high fuel prices emptied supermarket shelves. According to RSI, an impact on Switzerland and neighbouring countries is ruled out for now; Italy accounts for 7.6% of Swiss imports, says USI economist Edoardo Beretta (RSI, 23 October 2026).

Is a supermarket's own organic brand more expensive than other organic products? According to Saldo, in most of the cases it checked, yes: at one of the big Swiss supermarkets, on the same shelf, a tin of organic chopped tomatoes under the retailer's own brand costs CHF 1.60 and the Alnatura one 85 centimes, and both mostly meet the same EU organic standard (Saldo, 21 October 2026). In the same issue, Saldo reports that a discounter currently sells original Nespresso capsules at CHF 4.95 for a box of ten, against CHF 5.70 at Nespresso; they are not part of the discounter's permanent range (Saldo).

What changes in the shops with the cooperative merger announced on Monday? On Monday 26 October, one of the big Swiss supermarket groups announced plans to merge its ten regional cooperatives into a single cooperative; the boards approved unanimously, and its 2.3 million members will vote in mid-2027, with a two-thirds majority needed in each of the ten cooperatives (SRF, 26 October 2026). According to AWP, nothing changes in the shops for now: branches, staff and range stay as they are. In the long run the group promises better and cheaper offers, but names neither savings nor prices (persoenlich.com/AWP, 26 October 2026).

This week's sources

• SKS, press release on the meat share in veal sausages and five other product groups, 21.10.2026.
• SKS, survey of the meat or fish share in 85 foods, 21.10.2026.
• SKS, sugar check on crisps, bread and other products, 20.10.2026.
• cash.ch/AWP, Lindt & Sprüngli replaces its CEO, 20.10.2026.
• NZZ am Sonntag, interview with Ernst Tanner, 24.10.2026 (paywalled; the statements quoted are confirmed by foodaktuell/AWP).
• foodaktuell/AWP, Ernst Tanner on prices and promotions, 25.10.2026.
• FSO, Swiss Consumer Price Index in September 2026, 01.10.2026 (context).
• FSVO, public warning: listeria in Nautica smoked trout fillets, 24.10.2026.
• Recallswiss, supplier recall of the smoked trout fillets, 23.10.2026.
• FSVO, public warning: pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Lebensbaum savory, 20.10.2026.
• Recallswiss, savory recall, three batches, 23.10.2026.
• Recallswiss, Chrysanthemum Bud 50 g and Sator geschält 100 g, 20.10.2026.
• RSI, truck blockades in southern Italy, 23.10.2026.
• Saldo 17/2026, same organic standard at different prices, 21.10.2026.
• Saldo 17/2026, Nespresso capsules outside Nespresso shops, 21.10.2026.
• SRF, the plan to merge the regional cooperatives, 26.10.2026.
• persoenlich.com/AWP, questions and answers on the merger, 26.10.2026.

Next Monday

On Monday 2 November at 8.30, the Federal Statistical Office publishes retail turnover for September, and on Tuesday 3 November at 8.30 the consumer price index for October. The Rappn Report comes out every Monday at 7.00, here on rappn.ch.

Updates

• 27.10.2026: first published. Corrections appear here, with their date.

Why Rappn

Rappn compares prices and offers across the big Swiss supermarkets for your area, and the receipt scan shows where your grocery budget really goes. No commercial agreements with any supermarket, no affiliate links: the numbers in the Rappn Report come from the sources named, not from an advertising budget.