‘Shrinkflation’ hits mouthwash bottles, teabags and sausages
Shrinking mouthwash bottles, fewer teabags and sausages with less pork are among downsized and downgraded supermarket products as manufacturers and retailers cut costs, a watchdog has found.
Which? found that Listerine Fresh Burst mouthwash shrank from 600ml to 500ml but went up in price by 52p at Tesco, meaning shoppers paid 21 per cent more for 17 per cent less – or an increase to the unit price per 100ml of 46 per cent.
PG Tips The Tasty Decaf Pyramid tea bags went from containing 180 teabags to just 140 at a number of supermarkets.
Among downsized products were Andrex Flushable Washlets Toilet Wipes decreasing from 40 to 36 in a pack, Bisto Best Chicken Gravy Granules from 250g to 230g, Cadbury’s
Brunch Chocolate Chip Bars from six to five in a pack and Kettle Chips Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorns Crisps from 150g to 130g. Also becoming smaller was Lurpak Slightly Salted Butter Box from 225g to 180g, Mcvitie’s Digestives Dark Chocolate Biscuits from 433g to 400g, Yeo Valley Organic Salted Spreadable from 500g to 400g and Coffee Mate Original Whitener from 500g to 450g, Which? said.
The consumer group found other products were downgraded to include fewer expensive ingredients in examples of so-called “skimpflation”, including Tesco Finest sausages reduced from 97 per cent pork to 90 per cent and Yeo Valley Spreadable Butter from containing 54 per cent butter to 50 per cent. Subtle recipe changes were also seen in Tesco Beef Lasagne (1.5kg) from 23 per cent beef to 19 per cent, Tesco Tex Mex Chicken Enchiladas (480g) from 27 per cent chicken to 20 per cent and Morrison st he best lasagne al Forno (400g) from 30 per cent beef to 26 per cent.
Which? found that over three quarters of people (77 per cent) have noticed “shrinkflation”, and 36 per cent had noticed “skimpflation”. Manufacturers told the watchdog that changes often reflected their own costs or helped to keep products more affordable for consumers, and in some cases had improved the flavour or healthiness of a product.
Which? retailed it ore le clark said: “Our research shows that while some popular products are subtly decreasing either in size or quality, the same can’t be said for their prices – which means shoppers are inadvertently paying more for less. Supermarket sand manufacturersmust be more up front by making sure changes to popular products are clear, and by ensuring that unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent in-store and online so that shoppers can easily compare prices across different brands and pack sizes.”
British Retail Consortium director of food and sustainabilityandrew o pie said :“nearly all examples provided of shrink flat ion are on branded products, not own label, meaning they reflect decisions by the manufacturers not the retailers.”
A spokeswoman for Arla, which makes Lurpak, said: “Our new 400g spreadable and 200g block options have not been kept at the same price–the prices have reduced in proportion with the pack size reduction. Not only has the price reduced because of the smaller pack size, but the price has also reduced per kg.”