Everything you need to know about skimpflation
Skimpflation is a business practice that involves reducing the quality and availability of services and products, with no accompanying reduction in price. It uses cheaper and perhaps even inferior ingredients to make a product that appears to be the same as before, in order to reduce the manufacturer’s production costs. This tactic primarily affects our food, as recipes are reformulated and certain ingredients are replaced by cheaper ones, resulting in reduced product quality. Often, these changes are made without the customers' knowledge.
💡 Helpful tip
Skimpflation should not be confused with shrinkflation, which is a reduction in the quantity of food without any corresponding change in the price. A product may have undergone both skimpflation and shrinkflation, making choices even more confusing for consumers.
Everything you need to know about skimpflation
How did it start?
Skimpflation is not a new phenomenon. This marketing strategy, used by producers, is carried out discreetly - often without the consumer's knowledge - and for numerous reasons. Extreme weather events, inflation, fluctuating food prices, staff shortages and high demand for cheaper products are all factors that put pressure on food production costs and can exacerbate the adoption of such practices by processors. The industry strives to remain profitable and maintain the attractiveness of its products despite these uncertainties.
To make this happen, a number of key players may be tempted to make slight modifications to the recipes of popular products in order to keep costs down, often to the detriment of the product's nutritional quality. For example, some practices involve replacing certain ingredients with less expensive alternatives or minimizing the proportion of the most expensive nutritional ingredients. Shrinkflation and skimpflation are examples of these deceptive tactics, which are causing a great deal of concern.
What’s the problem?
The ingredient list is changed without the change being clearly highlighted to the consumer.
Changes are difficult to detect, e.g., water is added to the ingredient list.
The changes are not indicated on the label, other than in the ingredient list.
Substitutions do not take overall nutritional quality into consideration.
The price remains unchanged, despite the reduction in product quality.
In a complex marketing environment where the public is over-solicited and most consumer decisions result from automated processes, it is extremely difficult for consumers to detect changes in the quality and quantity of the products they buy on a regular basis. Generally speaking, people don't have the necessary tools or the time to go through ingredients lists with a fine-tooth comb, to check their proportions, quantity, or weight, let alone compare them with their previous versions, if these changes are not made sufficiently visible and transparent by the players involved in the business of food supply.
How can consumers successfully deal with this phenomenon?
Basically, we can simply rely on the recommendations of the latest edition of Canada's Food Guide, which emphasizes healthy eating and encourages the consumption of unprocessed or minimally processed foods.
❓ Did you know
Some manufacturers have backtracked on skimpflation. One example is the Smart Balance buttery spread, which has reverted to its original formulation in response to negative feedback.
☝🏼 One thing to remember
Whether skimpflated or not, most ultra-processed foods tend to be harmful to your health and to the environment, as well.
Some concrete examples
Replacement of chocolate with palm-oil-based ‘chocolaty’ coating in candy bars
Substitution of vegetable oils with palm oil, an oil that is cheaper to produce, is highly saturated, and carries with it serious social and environmental impacts as part of the production process.
Reduced proportion of real fruit in yogurt
Use of imitation “blueberries” in bagels
Introduction of more highly processed flours (such as refined flour, as opposed to whole flour) that are less expensive and less nutritious in breads and pastas
More water added to dilute preparations and/or reduce the amount of fat used (e.g., soups, pie fillings, ice cream).
Substitution of dairy products with dairy substances
Is this legal?
Manufacturers are allowed to modify their recipes without advance notice. As for the Nutrition Facts table, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency tolerates a 20 per cent margin of error, leaving plenty of legal room for changes. Only the introduction of allergens needs to be reported. Skimpflation is therefore not illegal, but it is an opaque commercial tactic that can create a climate of mistrust, since these changes are made without the consumer's knowledge. The consequences of skimpflation are not insignificant.
Recipe changes (production processes and/or nature and quantity of ingredients) are legal practices, and indeed very common in the food processing industry. Changes can be made for a variety of reasons: technological (e.g. a new preservation process that dispenses with the need for a preservative), regulatory (e.g. a ban on a particular ingredient), or in response to evolving consumer tastes (e.g. changing appetite for spices, sugar, etc.).
The problem arises when these changes are made for purely economic reasons (to cut costs) and affect the actual nutritional value of the products. But more importantly, the problem arises when these changes are not made transparent to the consumer! In other words, when the actual value of a product is reduced without the consumer's knowledge and the consumer continues to pay the same price for that product. As a result, there is a reduction in the quality/price ratio of the product, and the consumer is unaware.
What are the impacts of skimpflation?
On our wallets
The biggest problem with skimpflation is that the consumer buys lower-quality products but still pays the same price. On a broader scale, skimpflation raises concerns regarding the erosion in purchasing power and the volatility of the bio-food system. This instability manifests itself in the form of higher prices and/or opaque commercial practices that maintain the illusion of low prices.
These changes can be made for a variety of reasons, including technological ones, such as a new preservation process that eliminates the need for a preservative, regulatory ones such as the banning of a particular ingredient, or responses to changes in consumer taste, such as changes in the taste for spices, sugar, etc.
On our health
Skimpflation can negatively impact our health. If recipe changes are made at the expense of quality ingredients, reducing the nutritional supply of proteins and minerals in favour of sugars, additives, salt, saturated fats and other fillers, we can easily imagine the possible consequences with respect to our grocery basket, and therefore to our health. A weekly grocery basket that is less nourishing, but costs just as much, without our noticing it!
For example, changes to the ingredients of a family favourite could lead to a reduction in its protein content, without any warning. Nutrient deficiencies can appear over time, and conversely lead to the overconsumption of saturated fats, sugar and/or salt. These insidious, long-term changes can lead to an imbalance in nutritional intake and affect our overall health.
On our trust
Skimpflation raises a number of important transparency issues regarding the integrity of products available in grocery stores. Even though the changes are not always perceptible, not all consumers are being taken in. Radio-Canada conducted a survey on the subject, and a number of Internet users made comments related to shrinkflation: “The product doesn't taste like it used to, the consistency is not the same, it's more liquid than before, etc.”
😯 A blatant example!
According to the same Radio-Canada investigation, the recipe for Quaker brand granola bars has been modified to replace milk chocolate with a chocolate coating made from palm oil. Saturated fat levels rose by 40 per cent and protein levels declined by 50 per cent. Not a good idea for kids' lunchboxes!
Could the industry do things differently?
Yes! There are a number of possible ways in which industry practices can be improved. Here are just a few of the many potential solutions:
How can consumers successfully deal with this phenomenon?
- Cook at home, using basic ingredients that cannot be substituted without your knowledge!
- Choose only products that have a short ingredients list, with easily recognizable ingredients.
- Read labels, check the ingredients, refer to the Nutrition Facts table--these are all good habits to develop!
- To get inspired and gain a taste for cooking, check out cookbooks and recipe sites on the Internet. Plus, you may even save some money! One example: https://www.glouton.app/fr/
- Speak up! When you come across a case of skimpflation, contact the company (by e-mail or on social media) to let them know you're unhappy. Tell your loved ones, and inform members of networks and interest groups that deal with food and consumer issues. If no one takes any action, nothing will change. Your voice counts, and you have more power than you think!
