2023-05-06 00:27:09
Saturday, May 6, 2023, 00:27
The rise in the cost of raw materials as a consequence first of the pandemic and after the war in Ukraine brought the phenomenon of ‘reducing’ to the fore. An old tactic used by manufacturers of food and other consumer goods, such as cleaning products, which consists of offering less quantity while maintaining the price. Or reducing it to a lesser extent.
The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) detected, when collecting the prices for its 2021 annual study of supermarkets, that this practice had been increasing, and also in products in which until then it had not been observed, such as pasta or dairy.
The association then estimated that the reduction affected 7% of the items in the shopping cart. The problem, he stresses, is that the consumer “does not receive clear information about these changes.” Supermarkets are also often caught “unaware”, so that “the price per unit (kilo, liter or dose) is not updated for a while.”
The OCU highlights, in its May magazine, some detected cases. “The more sold the brand, the greater the impact of the reduction,” he denounces.
1. Rooster Pasta
Half-kilo packages of this popular brand of pasta were reduced to 450 grams (g), and one-kilo packages to 900 grams. The packaging is similar, “but the weight appears behind, instead of the front.” According to the OCU, the 500 gram and 1 kilo formats “are still common in most brands, except Gallo, which is a sales leader.
2. Danone yogurts
The reduction in these yogurts was more “subtle”, 4%: from 125 to 120 g. The association stresses that this practice “extended to other brand products”, such as custards and flans, which lost 10 grams. Almost all other firms maintain the 125 g. The OCU recalls that Danone billed 40% of yogurt sales in 2019.
3. Tulipan Margarine
The container of 500 g. It has gone to 450 and the 250, to 250 g. Then it dropped to 400 grams, “20% less without changing the outer size.” The weight is only indicated under the tub.
4. Magdalene Bella Easo
The package previously included 10 cupcakes, and now 9 for the same money, which represents a 10% increase in cost.
5. Anchovies Consortium
The drained weight of the container (that is, that of the anchovies themselves) goes from 29 to 23 grams, while the net only drops 2 grams. The price is maintained.
6. Hero Baby
It decreases 17% of the weight, but the price does not change. Previously it included 24 takes, and now only 20.
7. Stores
This detergent is sold in the same container, at the same price, but with less quantity: now it only gives 30 washes, when before it was widespread up to 37. That is, 20% less in a similar container. “Also a waste of plastic,” denounces the OCU.
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