The sneaky reason some of your favourite grocery brands suddenly taste different
Updated . First published at
If you’ve noticed some of your favourite grocery products have changed in taste or texture recently, it isn’t your imagination.
There’s a sneaky food trend rolling out in supermarkets across the country, leaving Australian shoppers shortchanged without them even knowing it. Introducing: “skimpflation”.
'Skimpflation' is subtly making its presence known, with evidence seen in some chocolates. Nine
According to Matt Bowen, Head of Consumer and Market Insights at ING, this is when major food producers reduce or swap out high-quality ingredients with cheaper alternatives to increase profit margins.
In some instances, the change in taste isn’t noticeable, or is so subtle it doesn’t ring any alarm bells. But sometimes it’s more obvious, and can leave dissatisfied customers scratching their heads and considering switching brands.
This is not to be mistaken with “shrinkflation”, when a grocery item is obviously reduced in size while maintaining the same price.
The term describes food producers reducing some ingredients, or swapping them out completely. Getty
The rise of ‘skimpflation’
The issue of “skimpflation” was brought to our attention by a nine.com.au reader who noticed a difference in their favourite grated pizza cheese.
“It’s like it has less mozzarella in it than before. I don’t know for sure because I don’t have an old pack to compare it to, but it’s definitely different,” they said.
“It definitely tastes different, and it doesn’t even melt properly any more.”
In Australia, the challenge of “skimpflation” is conflated by the fact we are one of the few global markets in which food producers are not compelled to inform customers changes have been made to the ingredients of their products, beyond updating the ingredients labels on the back of the packs.
Today Money Expert Joel Gibson said companies may be resorting to “skimpflation” to deal with increasing production costs.
One Aussie shopper reported a suspected change in their favourite shredded pizza cheese blend. Nine/Coles
“Businesses are being squeezed, and they try not to put prices up and they’re looking for other ways that they can cut their costs,” he told nine.com.au.
“So it might be [to] shrink the packet, it might be [to] put more tasty cheese and less mozzarella ... but I think it’s all part of the same trend, which is that we have seen a big spike in supply costs this year.
“We’ve definitely seen it flow through supermarket prices already, so it’s not as though we’re inoculated from it, but maybe they’re finding some sneaky ways and that is the sneakiest of them all.”
Sausages can also be subject to 'skimpflation' practises. iStockphoto
What it looks like on shelves
The phenomenon is more noticeable when a company changes ingredients to such an extent they are required to legally change the name of the product or its description.
Recent examples of this are Nestle Smarties, which switched from being described as “chocolate” to “choc” after they fell below 22 per cent cocoa solids and 25 per cent milk solids, and Coles Vanilla Ice Cream, which is now called Coles Vanilla Flavoured Frozen Dessert after the milk content fell below 10 per cent.
Consumer group Choice shared customer reports of changed product ingredients, including Aldi’s Goldenvale Granola and Jalna Kids’ Yoghurt Pouches.
Anecdotal customer reports have also included multiple chocolate and ice cream brands, tinned tomatoes with suspected less tomatoes and more water and thickener, and multiple other items increasing their use of thickeners and vegetable oils.
Other examples are sausages with less meat, and pasta sauces and dinner mixes with more thickener and less of the previous ingredients.
The push for transparency
Paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher is advocating for greater transparency when it comes to ingredient swaps in Australia.
Sacher told nine.com.au she is advocating for greater transparency in food labelling. iStockphoto
“We’re not telling people what to eat or what not to eat, but it’s about providing information, empowering them with knowledge. Then they can decide to continue buying that product or not,” she told nine.com.au.
While the pressure is on for government food authorities to compel food producers to disclose ingredients changes in Australia, it is unclear which food authority should be responsible for this.
Food standards in Australia are governed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and established and monitored by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
A spokesperson for FSANZ told nine.com.au that while they are responsible for food guidelines in Australia, they “do not enforce them”.
The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) enforces competition and consumer law specifically targeting misleading or deceptive conduct, price gouging, and anti-competitive behaviour, as has been seen with their recent action against Coles and Woolworths sales practices.
They do not govern changing ingredient lists in supermarket products, nine.com.au has been told, unless the brand’s packaging or marketing actively misleads the consumer.
Got a story? Contact reporter Jo Abi at jabi@nine.com.au.
In Australia there is no legal requirement for a company to inform customers of a change of ingredients. Jo Abi
For example, if a juice brand quietly reduces its percentage of real fruit juice but keeps the words “100% Natural Fruit Juice” boldly printed on the front, that crosses into the ACCC’s territory as misleading conduct.
That means ingredient changes that don’t require a change in name or product description can fly under the radar.
Who is the onus on?
A spokesperson for FSANZ told nine.com.au while they are the independent statutory authority responsible for the development and maintenance of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code), the “do not enforce them”.
“The Code sets out the legal requirements for food produced or imported for sale in Australia and New Zealand to ensure a safe food supply for consumers.
“While we set the standards in the Code, we do not enforce them.
“In Australia, this is the responsibility of state and territory food regulatory agencies and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) at the Australian border under the Imported Food Inspection Scheme (IFIS).
What FSANZ can require is “certain information to be provided on the label of most packaged foods”.
This includes an update to the ingredients and percentages listed.
“This information enables consumers to identify where reformulation of food products has occurred, including through ingredients lists ordered by descending ingoing weight (Standard 1.2.4), allergens clearly identified using plain English (Standard 1.2.3), the average quantities of key nutrients in the nutrition information panel (Standard 1.2.8), and the declaration of the amount of characterising ingredients (e.g. strawberry in strawberry yoghurt) as a percentage (Standard 1.2.10).
“The Code requires food labels to accurately reflect the composition of a product. If a manufacturer changes a recipe, the label must be updated to reflect those changes.”
Pantry staples can have ingredients swapped for water and thickeners. iStockphoto
That leaves the onus on customers to monitor the ingredients lists on their favourite grocery items, something shoppers are unlikely to do unless they notice a change.
Even then, they often don’t have the previous information to compare it to.
“Manufacturers are not required by the Code to separately notify consumers when a recipe has changed and there are currently no plans to introduce such a requirement,” the spokesperson said, adding that further information about labelling is available on their website.
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