"Skimpflation": How manufacturers save on food ingredients - prices stay the same

In the supermarket, it's almost impossible to notice when the ingredients in your favorite muesli suddenly change. The Hamburg Consumer Advice Center sees this as a trick to deceive customers. The association criticizes some manufacturers for replacing expensive ingredients like meat, butter, or hazelnuts with cheaper ones like water or flavorings. The phenomenon is called "skimpflation."

"Consumers appear to be buying the same product, but receiving less quality for their money," says Armin Valet, a food expert at the Consumer Protection Agency. The practice is legal as long as the modified ingredients are correctly stated on the packaging. "This is attractive for manufacturers when raw materials become more expensive." This allows production costs to be saved. The selling price, in turn, usually remains the same.

The Consumer Protection Agency published a new list of affected products this week. This includes Netto's "Favorite Nut Nougat Spread." The hazelnut content in this spread fell from 20 to 13 percent. A request to the discount chain Netto initially remained unanswered.

For the ketchup of Kaufland's own brand KClassic, 72 percent tomato paste is now used instead of the previous 73 percent double-concentrated tomato paste. Recipes are regularly adjusted, and the supplier was changed at the beginning of the year, the retail chain explained. Sensory tests have confirmed that the product meets customer expectations.

Another example is Knorr's "Feinschmecker Zitronen Butter Sauce." The butter content has been reduced from 25 to 10 percent. Consumers are now asked to add five grams of butter themselves. The food company Unilever did not respond to a request for comment.

The "Milkana creamy light" processed cheese was also added to the list. Here, the cheese content was reduced from 65 to 42 percent. According to the manufacturer, Savencia, the change has improved the quality. While it contains less cheese, it now also contains butter. The fat content is higher than before. According to a spokesperson, the packaging states, "Now even tastier."

Christoph Minhoff, CEO of the German Food Association, rejects the allegations. He says what is being denounced as skimpflation is "a necessary reaction" to factors such as sharply rising raw material prices, disrupted supply chains, new legal requirements, and even voluntary commitments such as reducing sugar, fat, and salt.

The Hamburg Consumer Advice Center's list includes around 40 cases. According to Valet, the actual number is likely significantly higher. He urges customers to report affected products. Statements like "New Recipe" or "Improved Recipe" are misleading and reason enough to be skeptical. The problem: Only those who compare the old and new ingredient lists notice differences. "But no one keeps old products or knows their recipes," says Valet.

Consumer advocates are calling for clear and mandatory labeling of recipe changes. According to Valet, package sizes also shrink at the same time, often while maintaining the same price. This is called "shrinkflation" – and is rarely disclosed by manufacturers.

Muesli producer Kölln chose a different approach. The company recently announced that it would reduce the filling quantity of its chocolate muesli while keeping the price the same. The reason given for this was, among other things, the sharp increase in cocoa prices. The packaging will be labeled accordingly.

RND/dpa