Cereal offender: Kellogg’s admits to shrinking box sizes

KELLOGG’S has become the latest big name to introduce “shrinkflation” by reducing its box sizes while keeping the price the same, it has emerged.

It joins a raft of other diminishing favourites including Penguin bars, some versions of Mcvitie’s Chocolate Digestives and Wotsits.

Mccoy’s crisps, Iced Gems and Tropicana fruit juice have also made similar changes since the start of the year, a report revealed.

The trend has been described by critics as a price rise by the back door as many shoppers may not realise they are effectively paying more.

The update, by analysts Edge by Ascential for The Grocer, shows boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes have slimmed down from 790g to 720g, but the price has stayed the same at £2.69. Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes were in 750g boxes but are now in 720g while still costing £3.49 and Coco Pops packs have gone down from 510g to 480g, but remain on sale for £2, the trade journal stated.

Kellogg’s blamed the change on problems with “overfilling’ boxes at the previous weight.

A spokesman told the publication: “In response to demand for bigger boxes on some of our cereals, and to tackle an overfull issue causing a quality issue on others, we have changed the weight of some of our packs.”

Mcvitie’s has cut the size of its sixpacks of Chocolate Digestives Milk Chocolate Fun Shapes, Penguins and Iced Gems, by 8 per cent, which it claims is part of the Government’s campaign to keep snacks down to a 100-calorie limit. A spokesman said it meant the new sized packs would be between 88 to 94 calories a serving.