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Not what they used to be......

superdad3

superdad3

master brummie
As well as a lot of good old products vanishing from the shelves, it disappoints me how many traditional products have been "bought" up by big companies and immediately altered for the worse. HP Sauce was never the same after taken over by the dutch - darker & doesn't taste the same. Brillo Pads - always used them - supermarket look-a-likes nowhere as efficient. Now taken over by a conglomerate - useless. Andrews Liver Salts - grew up with these in the cupboard! Round metal tin - instantly recognisable and it worked. Taken over by a conglomerate - now in narrow plastic container - half the quantity & twice the price & doesn't work as well.

Oh dear, is my age showing or are many traditional products not as good as they used to be? I'm sure there are lots of examples you can think of?
 
yes i agree...sadly its called progress...we have to have it but we dont have to always like it :(

lyn
 
superdad3 said:
Andrews Liver Salts - grew up with these in the cupboard! Round metal tin - instantly recognisable and it worked. Taken over by a conglomerate - now in narrow plastic container - half the quantity & twice the price & doesn't work as well.
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Quite agree with your comments - I thought Andrews used to fizz but the latest container I bought doesn't unless I have a duff one!
 
jukebox said:
Quite agree with your comments - I thought Andrews used to fizz but the latest container I bought doesn't unless I have a duff one!
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me too i bought some. put a large spoon full in a glass. and WOW!!! ...........nothing happend: unamused:
 
What you've missed is the health and safety aspect of many of the changes, the recipe for some of them was so dangerous to the user and to the environment they just had to go.
As for the price and size of the product it just follows general inflation, when dad earned £4 for a 48 hour week a Mars bar at 3d wasn't cheap.
 
Eric Gibson said:
What you've missed is the health and safety aspect of many of the changes, the recipe for some of them was so dangerous to the user and to the environment they just had to go.
As for the price and size of the product it just follows general inflation, when dad earned £4 for a 48 hour week a Mars bar at 3d wasn't cheap.
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Unfortunately Eric you are CORRECT! Not what we want to hear but so very true.
 
Eric Gibson said:
What you've missed is the health and safety aspect of many of the changes, the recipe for some of them was so dangerous to the user and to the environment they just had to go.
As for the price and size of the product it just follows general inflation, when dad earned £4 for a 48 hour week a Mars bar at 3d wasn't cheap.
Click to expand...
You are probably right about the size/inflation angle.

But "health & safety" as a reason for changing ingredients on popular items when taken over? So HP sauce made in Aston was so dangerous that when a dutch company took it over they immediately changed it. And do you really think Andrews [original] which contained simple inorganic chemicals suddenly became dangerous when taken over by Sterling Health? Dangerous Brillo pads?

In most cases it was simply buying a profitable product and cutting costs to increase profits.

And before you say it, I am a STRONG supporter of Health & Safety legislation. It's there to protect customers in this context and in the wider context the general public and employees etc. It has become almost a cult to knock H & S and sadly most people doing so don't really know what they are talking about.
 
What you've missed is the health and safety aspect of many of the changes

That's what I said, many not all. I don't know the original recipe used for HP sauce, wasn't it supposed to be a secret?

I do know that stuff like radium and arsenic were used liberally at times in popular products and that Carter's Little Liver pills were withdrawn after being in use for almost a century when the contents were found to be more harmful than good.

Did you see tis BBC programme?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25259505
 
Eric Gibson said:
What you've missed is the health and safety aspect of many of the changes

Well, actually no I didn't.

Did you see tis BBC programme?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25259505
Click to expand...

Yes I did! But it was about adulteration of food etc products in the Victorian/Edwardian period! Truly awful what manufacturers got away with.

I though it it was clear from my original posts that I was taking about RECENT changes arising from takeovers by MULTI-NATIONALS of traditional products.

As a separate issue [perhaps I should start a new thread?] I am concerned & saddened at how sarcastic/dismissive etc so many people are of Heath & Safety requirements often encouraged by the media & sadly sometimes on our site. Too many people too ready to criticize H & S requirements without any relevant knowledge. I speak from 40 yrs experience managing BCC buildings with a responsibility for H & S within them. Contrary to popular opinion BCC took H&S very seriously at least up to when I retired 14 yrs ago.
 
I'm with you on the H&S part of your post, there were certainly many aspects of work that were dangerous and ignored by employers or that they were ignorant of.

I recall an old friend falling from a telephone pole and landing on his feet causing crushing damage up through his spine and brain stem and another who, working in a trench for an electricity board had his foot taken off when someone at base turned on a 32k volt main that he was working on.

We in the garage trade were pretty well forgotten for the most part but there were injuries caused by fuel fires and skin ailments caused by petroleum products, also defective electric tools.
 
superdad3 said:
Yes I did! But it was about adulteration of food etc products in the Victorian/Edwardian period! Truly awful what manufacturers got away with.

I though it it was clear from my original posts that I was taking about RECENT changes arising from takeovers by MULTI-NATIONALS of traditional products.

As a separate issue [perhaps I should start a new thread?] I am concerned & saddened at how sarcastic/dismissive etc so many people are of Heath & Safety requirements often encouraged by the media & sadly sometimes on our site. Too many people too ready to criticize H & S requirements without any relevant knowledge. I speak from 40 yrs experience managing BCC buildings with a responsibility for H & S within them. Contrary to popular opinion BCC took H&S very seriously at least up to when I retired 14 yrs ago.
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Super dad, I agree with your sentiments, however it is not just the multinationals as you suggested. Many smaller companies almost completely ignore HSE, health safety and environmental out of convenience. Also hindsight is 20/20. An example might be decaffeinated coffee, when it was first developed they used trichlorethene to draw off the caffeine. Everyone was pleased with the decaf! I was working as a young engineer in what was the biggest coffee plant in the world at the time making 3,000,000 per day. We sold the caffeine to Coca Cola until they found out about the trichlor. They stopped immediately but small beverage companies in South America kept on buying!
When products are moved from country to country the receipt items are almost never exactly the same due to country regulations and availability. Usually products are moved to optimize production, costs and technical support.
BTW, they now use water to draw of caffeine from team and coffe!
 
I'm dubious about the £100 for the bottle. I think I have one/some packed away from my tip-hunting days. Will have to have a search in my garage
 
mikejee said:
I'm dubious about the £100 for the bottle. I think I have one/some packed away from my tip-hunting days. Will have to have a search in my garage
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Mmmmm, so you were one of those middle of the night bottle hunters digging holes everywhere. I must admit i did try digging for bottles but all i ever found was broken glass ! Lad i worked with used to find lovely painted jar lids but he would never tell me where he was digging.
 
IMG_3332.JPG
Note "the new recipe" ie less tasty. This is right up to date in this week's shopping.
A previous for me noteworthy change was "SevenUp" some years ago. I have "always" been prone to migraines and old SevenUp gave quick relief, almost a miracle cure then they changed the recipe and the cure was no more. Seems they took the caffeine out.
 
devonjim said:
View attachment 149974
Note "the new recipe" ie less tasty. This is right up to date in this week's shopping.
A previous for me noteworthy change was "SevenUp" some years ago. I have "always" been prone to migraines and old SevenUp gave quick relief, almost a miracle cure then they changed the recipe and the cure was no more. Seems they took the caffeine out.
Click to expand...
Jim, SevenUp is one of those brands that is owned by different people in different countries. At one point for example part of it was owned by Cadbury Schweppes! Regarding your migraines (I am also prone to them and bad headaches), SevenUp used to contain caffeine In some regions, which is a drug used for migraine treatment. That might explain some of why it made you feel better!
 
Richarddye said:
Jim, SevenUp is one of those brands that is owned by different people in different countries. At one point for example part of it was owned by Cadbury Schweppes! Regarding your migraines (I am also prone to them and bad headaches), SevenUp used to contain caffeine In some regions, which is a drug used for migraine treatment. That might explain some of why it made you feel better!
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it might seam a wierd drink, but i liked SevenUp and Mackeson Stout Beer mixed. :Dno headaches in the morning prob all that caffine:grinning:
 
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