Eastern Europeans think Western food brands are selling them dross

FOR some it is the cheese and yogurt; for others the fruit juice. But for Tibor Ferko, a young butcher from Usti nad Labem, a city in the northern Czech Republic, it is the chocolate that leaves him slavering at the chops. Mr Ferko gestures with near-Italian flamboyance as he recalls the “creamy” texture of the Milka bars available just across the German border but denied to him by the inferior product at home. A few miles away, in a supermarket off the Srbice highway, Zdenek Kuklik vows never again to visit Czech shops for the Hipp baby food he feeds to the son clinging to his chest. Why? Because on the one occasion they bought locally he instantly spat the stuff out, explains his wife. From now on it will be strictly the superior product from across the border.

Suspicions that multinationals dump second-rate versions of the branded products they sell to westerners have a long pedigree across the ex-communist countries of eastern Europe. A mini-industry of angry consumer shows and cross-border shopping enterprises caters to consumers’ frustrations. Thousands of those who live near the frontier vote with their feet. Czechs visiting German towns like Altenberg and Heidenau, where supermarket signs come in two languages, say they can find higher quality, more choice and often lower prices.