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Another source of shrinkflation is changing ingredients. Something that used to be 50% water is now 75% water as an example. Another is changing from olive oil
by wppick 3y ago
Another source of shrinkflation is changing ingredients. Something that used to be 50% water is now 75% water as an example. Another is changing from olive oil to canola or palm or, and things like that.
- chongli 3y agoOne of the worst offenders in this regard is packages of frozen meat products such as chicken wings, chicken fingers, nuggets, etc. They used to just contain the breaded meat with the net weight printed on the box (usually 2 lb). Now they've started including frozen sauce packets as well. I've weighed some of these and found, for example, a 2 lb box of chicken wings that comes with more than half a pound of buffalo sauce. The net weight stays the same (2 lb) but if you weigh the chicken you're getting less than 1.5 lb of meat! The rest is all sauce!
- freeqaz 3y agoThat's amazing that it isn't illegal to do that. I wonder if the laws will force companies to list out how much weight each component is like that. But then again if there is no health impact (like with Trans fats) then is there any incentive for the regulators to change this? Has the FDA ever done any work to protect consumers from sketchy marketing/labeling of products? (I asked ChatGPT and it gave me a few bits. Apparently the term "Healthy" is regulated. And serving sizes are another that seem to be regulated. Maybe there is an angle within there that would make sense.)
- djmips 3y agoSort of related is chocolate. I feel like 'pure' chocolate is a loss leader and all of the other types with mixed in caramel bits etc are a way of selling you a bunch of cheaper stuff for the same weight and price! Better to just buy the least adulterated chocolate for the best deal.
- chongli 3y agoOr how about bread? I’ve seen some breads manage to increase the water content dramatically. You throw a slice in the toaster and it comes out weighting nothing at all, like a cracker!
- webninja 3y agoAnother is multi-gallon containers of protein powders online. Many contain 2/5th air at the top and are only 3/5ths full.
- yoyoyo1122 3y agoYeah, people call it skimpflation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation#Skimpflation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation#Skimpflation
- mkoubaa 3y agoI mind this much more than I mind shrinkflation
- djmips 3y agoYes because it makes it potentially less healthy and often worse tasting / useful.
- bjfish 3y agoI think the toilet bowl cleaner used to be more viscous and last a long time.
- spaceman_2020 3y agoI’ve also seen a change in packaging, example: changing from a glass bottle to a plastic bottle.
- purplecats 3y agowe need github tracking for the changes in metadata for products, like we do for legislation or the terms of use (like the one that unity deleted)