London, Dec 22 : A language watchdog insists that much of the Christmas food is dolled up with "pointless and meaningless waffle", making it difficult for shoppers to decide what to buy.

Plain English Campaign examined the descriptions of supermarket chickens and eggs and other foods, which showed that many of them gave shoppers no help in deciding what to buy.

"The language used to describe food has become comical and the consumer pays for it," the Telegraph quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

"Much of it is gobbledegook - the appropriate term is probably ''gobble-gobbledegook'' given the season.

"We''re not asking which came first, the chicken gobbledegook or the egg gobbledegook, but we''d like it to stop."

"We''ve found ''all butter mince pies'', chickens that lived in ''small mobile arks'' or ''spacious barns with windows to allow ample daylight and straw bales to perch on.''"

"What does any of it mean and how does it help people make decisions about which food to buy for Christmas? What on earth is a ''small mobile ark'' and how can a mince pie be ''all butter''?"

"Food can''t be just food anymore. We have to be given the impression it''s ''more than just food''. It''s not an egg - it''s an egg laid by a hen, which had ''freedom to roam in barns and a cereal-based diet''.

"We doubt that any shopper actually reads it. It''s gloss dreamed up by advertising agencies who are writing to entertain each other. It''s another pointless kind of packaging.

"Chicken is a description of a chicken. Mince pie is a description of a mince pie. Let''s get back to keeping things simple and not waste money covering packaging with pointless and meaningless waffle," she added. (ANI)