Ready-Meal Packaging: Picture Imperfect

Photography often does the heavy lifting on food packaging, providing an image of how inviting the plated product will be when served. But how closely do on-pack photos convey the reality of the product?

CHOICE Australia, a consumer advocacy group, shows a sometimes striking gap between the two in this short YouTube video, “Supermarket Ready Meals: Packaging vs. Reality.”

The video features several retail brands of prepared meals, with a view of the unopened package beside a shot of the opened tray full of food. The 20 comparisons range from quite similar, for the pesto chicken, to profoundly different — and unappetizing — for the creamy butter chicken.