- Written by Jacqueline Howard
- BBC News
Supermarkets and manufacturers should be more open about so-called “deflationary inflation” and “deflationary inflation”, consumer group Which? He says.
any? She said she was overwhelmed when she asked shoppers for examples of products that were smaller or contained fewer essential ingredients.
It included boxes of tea bags and sausages with a smaller amount of pork.
The British Retail Consortium says retailers are trying to limit price increases as production costs increase.
any? Choose the following examples of contraction:
- Listerine Fresh Burst mouthwash has been reduced in size from 600ml to 500ml. At Tesco it also rose by 52p
- PG Tips Tasty Decaf pyramid tea bags have risen from 180 bags to 140 bags in a number of supermarkets
- Sea Salt and Ground Black Peppercorn Potato Chips reduced from 150g to 130g at Tesco
- Lurpak Lightly Salted Butter reduced from 225g to 180g at Morrisons and Sainsbury’s
- Yeo Valley Organic Salted Spread rises from 500g to 400g in Sainsbury’s and Tesco
I also found that recipes for other products have been modified to include less expensive ingredients:
- In Sainsbury’s ‘Clotted Cream Rice Pudding’, the clotted cream has been replaced entirely by whipped cream. It has since been repackaged
- Morrisons 150g Guacamole has lost some avocado from 80% of the recipe to 77%.
- The amount of beef in Tesco Beef Lasagna 1.5kg reduced from 23% to 19%.
- The Waitrose Butter Chicken Curry has lost some of its chicken content from 47% to 41%.
any? He acknowledges that the changes all came at a time when food inflation was rising. According to the Food Price Inflation Tracker, year-on-year price increases peaked last April at 17%.
The consumer group said research showed shoppers often pay more for less.
“Supermarkets and manufacturers need to be more visible by ensuring changes to popular products are clear, and by ensuring unit pricing is clear, legible and consistent in-store and online so shoppers can easily compare prices across different brands and pack sizes.” ” “Retail Editor for What?” said Eli Clarke.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said that all the examples identified by What? It reflects the decisions of manufacturers, not retailers.
“However, given the challenges faced by families due to the pressure of living costs, retailers are only focusing on finding ways to reduce price hikes for customers against the high cost of production, while maintaining the excellent quality of the products,” Obi said.
“Prices and sizes of all products are clearly labeled so customers can make informed decisions about their purchases.”