Useful Swiss Consumer Programme - From Scams to Dried mushrooms, Toothbrushes and Tea.

If you are interested in consumer issues and want to know more about the products you buy here in French speaking Switzerland, it's worth taking a look at the weekly television programme called ABE (A Bon Entendeur) presented by Manuelle Pernod and broadcast on Tuesday evenings on RTS1 at 20:10

A regular look at the products we buy This consumer progamme takes a regular look at many of the products we all buy in the main Swiss supermarkets and shops. It compares brands, analyses the content of many food products and draws conclusions for the consumer. Even if you only understand a basic amount of French, these programmes are well produced, can be easily understood and the conclusions are illustrated in graph form or with clear photos. Housing, Transport, Insurance etc The programme also looks at other consumer issues such as housing, transport, insurance etc.  The website of the programme has useful links to consumer associations and  links to consumer rights groups. The products featured over the last few weeks have been on a variety of items such as electric toothbrushes (their conclusion - buying the most expensive product in the shop isn't necessarily the best!)  Scroll to around 4 minutes on the programme here to see the result on this particular test.

Pesticides in Mushrooms and Herbal TeasAnother programme broadcast on February 18th featured the packets of dried mushrooms that can be found for sale in recognised retail outlets. It explained which packets of mushrooms contain pesticides and other chemicals, and which brand of mushrooms was rated the best all round.  For lovers of herbal tea  another programme revealed the content of some well recognised tea brand names, the results can be seen on this clip here 

Scam targeting local businesses This week's programme revealed a scam that involved small businesses being approached (one of them in Versoix) to take out and pay up front for advertising in a magazine that simply didn't exist. The programme has been on air for many years and there's lots of archive material to be found on their site.  There is even an ABE app!